An Alaskan couple, who converted to Islam by studying the teachings of Anwar al Awlaki, have pled guilty to lying to federal authorities about a hit list they had compiled. The list included members of the media, the military, and religious organizations. Paul Rockwood will serve eight years in prison, while his pregnant wife Nadia […]
The trial of Omar Khadr begins today at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured by US forces after a firefight with militants, is charged with killing a US soldier with a grenade in 2002. This is the first military commission trial under the Obama administration.
The Treasury Department has issued a license allowing Anwar al Awlaki to be represented in court by the ACLU and the CCR. The two groups, who are aiding Awlaki’s father, Nassir, are challenging the Obama administration’s targeted ‘capture or kill’ list, to which Awlaki was added months ago.
Just one day after a Chicago man was arrested for attempting to travel to Somalia to assist the al Qaeda-aligned terror group Shabaab, the FBI has unsealed four indictments announcing arrests and charges against more than a dozen Somali-Americans for raising funds for the group. Among those arrested are two women, Amina Farah and Hawo […]
A 26-year-old Chicago man has been charged with intending to use a weapon of mass destruction and aiding a terrorist group. Shaker Masri told an FBI informant of his plot to travel to Somalia to fight with al Qaeda. Masri asked for money to buy arms once in Somalia and said he hoped to become […]
A court battle has been brewing over a challenge by two civil rights groups to the Obama administration’s Predator drone strike program, which began under the Bush Administration and has continued under President Obama’s watch. At the center of that battle is Anwar al Awlaki, the Yemeni cleric infamous for his mentoring of Major Nidal […]
Three men charged with plotting to blow up Kennedy Airport in New York have been found guilty after a month-long trial. Russell Defreitas, Abdul Kadir, and Abdul Nur planned an operation they referred to as “The Shining Light,” which consisted of blowing up jet fuel tanks. Defreitas and Kadir face life in prison.
Zachary Chesser, a Virginia native, was arrested for aiding a terrorist organization and his connections to Shabaab. Chesser had planned to travel to Somalia to join them in fighting. He turned up on FBI radars after threatening the creators of “South Park” on his radical website, RevolutionMuslim.
A second Christmas Day attack was in the works to coincide with Abdulmutallab’s failed airliner bombing. Overseas intelligence reports that extremists were targeting restaurants and nightclubs in New York City. The plot included smuggling explosive devices from Nairobi to London to New York by using Somali and Caucasian men to transport and carry out the […]
An indictment unsealed today by the Dept. of Justice reveals that the foiled 2009 NYC subway terrorist attack uncovered in the Najibullah Zazi investigation was a much more ambitious plot than previously known. The NYC plot was planned to coincide with a similar suicide attack on the London transit system and was coordinated by senior […]
Eleven of the 17 Afghan soldiers who went AWOL from their posts at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas have turned up on Facebook. Activity on their profiles suggests that at least some of the men are aware of but unconcerned about their AWOL status and the media attention they have garnered. Three of the […]
A Somali terror suspect, whom authorities believe was trying to enter the US via Mexico, was removed from a diverted flight headed for Mexico. Abdirahman Ali Gaall was detained in Montreal, Canada and is due to face an immigration court on Wednesday. Gaall was the subject of a terror warning and is on the no-fly […]
Another suspect has been detained in Pakistan in connection with Faisal Shahzad’s failed Times Square bombing. Pakistani officials are giving no details other than the man’s name, Humbal Akhtar. Akhtar is one of 11 suspects detained in Pakistan in connection with the plot.
The Department of Homeland Security has warned Texas authorities that Mohamed Ali, who is affiliated with the Shabaab terror network based out of Somalia, is attempting to enter the US via the Mexico. Law enforcement officials have discovered a large human smuggling operation, facilitating the travel of Somalis linked to terror cells into the US […]
Federal authorities have issued a terror alert to Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a man believed to have recently crossed, or to be planning on crossing, into the US from the Mexican border. The man, Mohamed Ali, is a suspected member of the Somali-based terror group al Shabaab. The alert follows a […]
Just one day after Faisal Shahzad’s first appearance in a US court, a big development is coming out of Pakistan, where the failed Times Square attack originated. A major in the Pakistani army has been arrested by investigators for ties to the failed terror plot in New York. From the LA Times: The major’s involvement […]
With the continued questioning of failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, more details are emerging about the details of the plot. Should the crude bomb that Shahzad planned for the Times Square attack have detonated successfully, a contingency plan was in place with additional targets already scouted. From Fox News: Shahzad, who authorities say left […]
Two men were arrested on immigration violations after warrants were executed in Boston, New York, and New Jersey. The raids may be related to the financial network that supported Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzaz.
The FBI has executed search warrants in connection with the failed Times Square bombing in locations in the Northeast. Homes and a gas station have been searched, reportedly for cash connections to the plot. Two have been taken into custody for immigration violations.
More arrests have been made in the failed terror plot on New York’s Times Square in Pakistan. Fox News is reporting at least 8 suspects have been arrested in connection with the plot. From Fox News/CBS News: Between four and eight people have been taken into custody for questioning in Pakistan in connection with the […]
Wesam El Hanafi and Sabirhan Hasanoff, two US citizens, have been charged in New York with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda. El Hanafi is accused of traveling to Yemen in 2008 to meet with al Qaeda. Hasanoff is accused of “performing assignments” on behalf of al Qaeda.
Christmas Day Bombing suspect Farouk Abulmutallab has surfaced in an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula propaganda video undergoing weapons training. The video then shows the young Nigerian national reading a martyrdom statement in Arabic.
A video has surfaced showing Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the “Christmas Day Bombing” terror plot, undergoing weapons training with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. The propaganda film, obtained by a Yemeni journalist, shows the young Nigerian national among a group of other trainees with weapons ranging from small arms to RPGs […]
A West African man, reported to be on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, was escorted off a flight from Abuja, Nigeria, to JFK Airport in New York. The Gambian citizen had been added to the no-fly list while the flight was in the air. Zazi co-conspirator Zarein Ahmedzay is planning to plead guilty in […]
Ahmad Wais Afzali. Image from The New York Daily News. Ahmad Wais Afzali, the Queens imam who has pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his connection in the Najibullah Zazi case, has been ordered to leave the US within 90 days as a term of his plea deal with prosecutors. The plea spared […]
Imam Ahmad Afzali will be ordered to leave the country in 90 days but will avoid jail time for lying to the FBI. Afzali gave false statements to law enforcement officers after tipping off would-be suicide bomber Najibullah Zazi that police were investigating him. Zazi and two others were plotting to carry out bombings in […]
Najibullah Zazi plotted to carry out suicide attacks on crowded New York City trains. He had been recruited by al Qaeda’s external operations branch in Pakistan after he traveled there to fight with the Taliban.
The arrest of a fourth suspect in Pakistan in connection with the foiled New York City terror plot has revealed some unsettling details about Najibullah Zazi’s plan to attack the city’s transit system. Authorities have been tight-lipped about the Pakistani man who, according to officials, “may not ultimately be charged in connection with the plot,” […]
Two men believed to have been co-conspirators in Najibullah Zazi’s plot to bomb the New York subway system have been formally indicted on those charges. Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay pled not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.
Najibullah Zazi, the airport shuttle driver charged with planning to carry out terror attacks in New York, is expected to plead guilty to terrorism charges in court today. The move by Zazi to enter a guilty plea, in exchange for a deal, sends a signal to prosecutors that he is willing to cooperate with investigators, […]