The Irish army blew up a makeshift bomb found in a bus outside Dublin ahead of a historic visit by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth today, amid the biggest security operation ever mounted by the state.
The Queen’s visit, the first by a British monarch since Ireland won independence from London in 1921, is designed to show how warm neighbourly relations have replaced centuries of animosity.
But the discovery of the bomb on a bus in a town outside Dublin, and a coded warning yesterday about a possible bomb in London, were stark reminders that a small minority remain violently opposed to continued British rule in Northern Ireland.
Britain’s Foreign Office said the Queen’s visit would still go ahead despite discovery of the bomb.
A massive bombing tore through a tourist cafe in the bustling heart of Marrakech's old quarter Thursday, killing at least 11 foreigners and three Moroccans in the country's deadliest attack in eight years. ...The UN Security Council and UN leader Ban Ki-moon issued statements condemning the "heinous" bomb attack in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Thursday which killed 14 people. The 15-nation Security Council said in a statement it ..
Calmly pushing a trolley through a supermarket, the ringleader of the 7/7 attacks shops for equipment to make his deadly bombs.
Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, was caught on CCTV strolling through a branch of Asda the day before the atrocity.
With him was fellow-bomber Shehzad Tanweer, 22. He filled the trolley with icepacks, used to cool the gang’s deadly home-made explosives, the July 7 inquest was told.
The grainy pictures show the killers carrying out their final preparations for the attacks, which left 52 dead in London.
Other CCTV footage revealed for the first time yesterday showed some of the Islamic extremists shopping for bomb-making equipment at B&Q.
Khan was also caught on a hospital camera taking his pregnant wife Hasina Patel for a check. Three of the bombers were later captured on film during a ‘reconnaissance mission’ around London on June 28, a week before the 2005 bombings.
The pictures show the men surrounded by busy commuters and other innocent passers-by.
Some witnesses who saw them on their final journey into London, on July 7 itself, described how they had thought the ‘smiling and laughing’ men were going on holiday, or members of a sports team.
Stocking up: 7/7 bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer caught on CCTV in Asda, Leeds, buying the final supplies for their deadly mission
Plans: The bombers - highlighted by coloured arrows - are shown during their reconnaissance mission to the capital
The group 'acted completely natural', the inquest heard today
British police questioned two men yesterday after a parcel bomb was sent to the headquarters of the MI6 foreign intelligence service and another was intercepted at a postal sorting office.
“The Metropolitan Police Service is investigating two suspect packages addressed to premises in central London,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said, declining to give details of the devices.
Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it has foiled several planned attacks on oil installations with the arrests of 113 suspected al-Qaida militants in a months-long sweep.
Many of the suspects had come to Saudi Arabia on visas to visit holy sites or by sneaking across its borders, but wanted to join and organize attacks with al-Qaida, the Interior Ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has aggressively pursued militants since a series of attacks inside the country that began in May 2003. The country is the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.
The arrests were the first to be announced since August, when Saudi authorities said they had rounded up 44 al-Qaida-linked militants in a yearlong sweep.
The ministry statement said the arrests were carried out over a period of five months. Those detained included 47 Saudis, 51 Yemenis, a Somali, an Eritrean and a Bangladeshi, the announcement said.
Separately, authorities arrested 12 people from two al-Qaida cells originating across the border in Yemen, where a local branch of the terrorist network has established a significant base of operations over the past year. Those two cells were also in the preliminary stages of planning attacks on oil facilities, the statement said.
In the last major attempt on such a facility, suicide bombers tried but failed to attack the Abqaiq oil complex in eastern Saudi Arabia in February 2006. The complex is the world's largest oil processing facility.
In a more recent setback, a suicide bomber lightly wounded the Saudi prince in charge of the country's anti-terrorism program in an August assassination attempt.
The United States, which counts Saudi Arabia as one of its closest Arab allies, praised its anti-terror campaign on Wednesday.
"They have been resolute in their pursuit of terrorists and we commend their law enforcement for its hard work to uproot destructive al-Qaida elements in the kingdom," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Riyadh says it has dismantled three terrorist cells in south of the Kingdom that it said composed of al-Qaeda militants.
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry said in a broadcast statement on Wednesday that more than a 100 people had been arrested during the crackdown, AFP reported.
It added that the rings comprised of an overall of 58 Saudis who waged militancy alongside operatives of Yemeni, Somali, Bangladeshi and Eritrean nationals.
They were plotting violent attacks against Saudi-based targets, namely oil installations, claimed the statement.
The raid led to the seizure of weaponry, ammunition, computers, pre-paid telephone cards and unspecified documents.
The alleged swoops, recurrently reported in the Kingdom, contradict vociferous allegations against the despotic monarchy that it continues to fund and sponsor al-Qaeda and extremist terror cells abroad.
A handout shows a man whom police believe to be Dulmatin, a top fugitive militant wanted over the 2002 Bali bombings, after he was shot during a police anti-terror raid at an Internet shop in Pamulang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, March 9, 2010.
Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri shows the photo of Dulmatin, a key figure behind 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people
Indonesian police confirmed on Wednesday that the DNA test and physical characters of one of the terrorists killed in a raid on Tuesday on the outskirts of Jakarta was Dulmatin, a key figure behind 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people.
Dulmatin, 39, was a senior member of the al Qaeda-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah. He was an electronic specialist and got training in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and his head was valued at 10 million U.S. dollars by the U.S. State Department.
"(The DNA test showed that) the body with code 001 is Dulmatin, " Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a press briefing at his office here.
Dulmatin, who had many aliases including Joko Pitono, was shot dead along with two of his bodyguards Ridwan and Hassan, said Hendarso.
Dulmatin had been the most wanted terrorist suspect in Southeast Asia. He was assembled bombs with Ali Imron who is under the police custody now, the police chief said.
The raid on Tuesday relates to the ongoing security sweeps in Aceh province in northern tip of Sumatra, said Hendarso.
The police chief said that the police had captured 21 alleged militants in Aceh with three others dead, seven in Jakarta, with three others killed and captured two others outside Aceh.
"All the suspects are now detained in a prison at Jakarta anti- terror squad headquarters," said Hendarso.
Hendarso said that the group had started military-style training in Aceh since Feb. 17 and involved a counter shooting with the police on Feb. 22, killing three policemen.
Armoury: Belts of live ammunition were discovered together with knives and riot police batons
Terrance Gavan's weapons cache which was discovered at the home where he lived with his mother in Batley, West Yorkshire
Jailed: Ex-BNP member Terence Gavan
Gavan admitted four counts of possession of prohibited weapons and six other terror charges
Hand grenade casings: Gavan told police he was fascinated with things 'that went bang'
This is the fearsome collection of guns, bombs and ammunition found at the home of a former British National Party activist fascinated by 'things that went bang'.
For a decade Terrance Gavan stockpiled an arsenal of home-made weapons, including nail and ball-bearing bombs, shotguns, pen guns and pistols.
The 39-year-old former neo-Nazi turned his home into a bomb and gun factory, leaving hand grenades, shotguns, knives and fireworks littered around his attic bedroom.
Gavan, a former soldier, had converted it into a workshop, complete with a metal lathe and bullet press which he kept alongside an extensive collection of weapons and military equipment, including knives, a samurai sword, camouflage clothing, guns and bullets.
The cache was discovered when anti-terror police searched the terraced house he shared with his mother in May last year after Gavan was linked to a website selling parts for weapons.
They discovered 54 homemade explosive devices which he had constructed over a decade, including 21 nail bombs, four bombs packed with ball bearings and 28 other devices, such as pipe-bombs and reactivated hand grenades.
One booby-trap bomb was even disguised as a packet of cigarettes.
Yesterday, the weapons-obsessed loner was jailed for 11 years at the Old Bailey.
The court heard that Gavan, who worked as a bus driver, had been making bombs since the age of ten and also made his own guns.
Police found ten firearms including two pen guns, three with silencers and two gas-fired pistols converted to fire live ammunition.
He had even tested a gun by firing it through a Yellow Pages book and at the bedroom walls of his home in Batley, West Yorkshire.
Also at the property were 40 knives, a crossbow and arrows, 120 bullets, air rifles, gun components, gunpowder and chemicals including hydrogen peroxide and weed killer.
Army bomb disposal experts spent six days searching and removing the explosives from his home.
They discovered that he had been making grenade launchers when officers stumbled upon the weapons factory.
Among his vast collection of books on war, he had manuals on booby traps, unconventional warfare techniques, improvised munitions and guerilla warfare operations.
Gavan also had a CD version of The Anarchist's Cookbook, a 1970s underground publication which contains instructions for making explosives.
When arrested, Gavan admitted he had an 'obsession with things that go bang' and said he had made the guns and bombs 'for the illicit thrill of owning them, to see if you can make them and then play with them'.
The court heard that as a boy he would test his own homemade explosives.
As a teenager he had a brief stint in the RAF and then went on to join the Royal Dragoons in 1988.
Gavan served with them for five years, during which he spent 280 days in military detention for nine separate disciplinary incidents.
In November 1993 he was discharged from the Army after being jailed for brandishing a loaded gun at a friend during a pub row while absent without leave.
Then, in 2007, he joined the BNP. Alongside letters and magazines from the BNP found in his bedroom, officers found a notebook of his rants against illegal immigrants.
In it he wrote: 'A patriot must be always be ready to defend his country from his enemies and their government-He also said all illegal immigrants should be sent home.
Earlier, Gavan admitted 22 charges relating to the manufacture and possession of improvised explosive devices, firearms and ammunition plus six offences under the Terrorism Act.
He also admitted the possession of a weapons manual. Sentencing him at the Old Bailey Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said: 'The explosives, firearms, ammunition and books and computer files were amassed by you over a period of ten years.
'This represents ten years of continual and continuous serious offending.'
Anti-terror Detective Chief Superintendent-David Buxton said: 'Gavan was an extremely dangerous and unpredictable individual,' who used his extensive knowledge to manufacture and accumulate devices capable of causing significant injury or harm.
'As such he posed a very clear risk to public safety.'
Najibullah Zazi, center, is escorted off an NYPD helicopter by U.S Marshals after being extradited from Denver, Colo., to New York.
The arrest of Najibullah Zazi shows an encouraging level of cooperation between NYC police and the Feds.
A Denver man accused of plotting a terrorist attack in the United States had apparently planned to set off a bomb in New York on the most recent anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal prosecutor said Friday.
That revelation came during what was otherwise a routine federal court hearing in Denver that paved the way for Najibullah Zazi, 24, to be flown to New York on Friday.
"The evidence suggests a chilling, disturbing sequence of events showing the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11, for purposes of perhaps using such items," Assistant U.S. Atty. Tim Neff told the court.
Zazi, an airport shuttle driver in Denver, was indicted on a terrorism charge Thursday by a federal grand jury in New York, but the indictment did not spell out when or where an attack was allegedly planned to take place.
Neff made the remarks during a hearing in which Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer dismissed a charge against Zazi of making false statements to authorities, thus clearing the way for the Afghan-born man to be transferred to New York to face the terrorism charge.
At the detention hearing Friday morning, Shaffer rejected arguments by Zazi's attorney, Arthur Folsom, that Zazi should be freed on bail.
Folsom said that Zazi didn't pose a flight risk because most of his immediate family lives in Colorado and because he had neither the resources nor inclination to flee the country. Folsom argued that if Zazi had wanted to escape, he had several opportunities to do so before his arrest.
Shaffer countered that Zazi had powerful incentives for running away, including the possibility that if convicted, he could face deportation after serving his sentence. Zazi is a legal U.S. resident, not a citizen.
"He has very little reason to stay," Shaffer said. Shaffer also said that Zazi posed "substantial danger" to the community if freed.
The indictment said that Zazi and unnamed co-conspirators recently made large purchases of chemicals from beauty supply stores, including hydrogen peroxide and acetone, that can be used to make explosives. It also said Zazi had researched how to make bombs and had sought advice on mixing chemicals for explosives.
The chemicals that Zazi and others sought were the kind found in the "explosive used in the 2005 London train bombings and intended to be used in the 2001 'shoe bomb' plot by Richard Reid," the indictment said.
On Sept. 8, the indictment said, Zazi rented a car in Colorado and searched the Internet for the location of a home-improvement store in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Zazi then searched the company's website for information on muriatic acid, which can be used as a bomb-making component, it said.
Zazi has maintained his innocence, as has his father and a New York City imam who have also been arrested. So far authorities have only charged the three Afghan-born men with lying to investigators, which carries an eight-year maximum sentence, and not a more serious terrorism-related charge.
According to the government, agents approached Afzali Sept. 10 and showed him a photo of Najibullah Zazi, 24, a fellow Afghan immigrant who moved from Queens to Denver.
The next day, Sept. 11, FBI wiretaps caught Zazi's father telling his son he'd gotten a call from Afzali warning him the FBI was showing his photo. The father was urging his son to call Afzali when call-waiting beeped: Afzali was on Zazi's other line.
"They asked me about you guys," the imam told the suspected terrorist, according to a transcript. "They came to ask me about your characters." He continued, "I'm not sure what happened. And I don't want to know ...I told them that 'they are innocent, law abiding.'"
Afzali told Zazi to take comfort that the FBI was just asking around about them.
"Trust me, that is a good sign," he said. "The bad sign is for them coming to you guys and picking you up automatically."
Afzali told Zazi: "Listen, our phone call is being monitored."
Hours later, Zazi called the imam to say his rental car had vanished. Afzali allegedly asked if there was any "evidence" in the car and Zazi said no.
The car contained bomb making notes, the FBI says.
According to the government, when questioned April 17, Afzali said it was Zazi who called him, not the other way around.
He allegedly denied tipping Zazi to the probe or asking about evidence in the car - and even denied saying the call was being taped.
Kuby said that charge made no sense. "Why on earth would he lie about the contents of a conversation that he knows is being recorded?" he said. "It would be insane for him to lie about that!"
Kuby said his client might have been confused about who called whom, but was trying to help. "The government asked him to make contact with (Zazi) and find out what he was up to," Kuby said. "So he left out a bunch of things. He's not a trained stenographer. He is doing everything they want him to do."
Prosecutors are skeptical. "Why would he ask Zazi about 'evidence' in his car?" said one official close to the case.
Cousin John Afzali, 42, manager of the family-owned pizzeria Valentino's, called the charges "bogus."
"He's a good guy. He's not extreme. I don't think they got the right person," he said.
Neighbors and friends said they couldn't image Afzali was mixed up in terrorism.
"This guy's got more money than God," said Steven Hayes, 37, who went to Parsons Junior High and Jamaica High School with Afzali. "I'm shocked. Not this guy."
He is famous in the neighborhood for his parade of fancy new cars, from Jaguars to BMWs to Hummers, which he polishes lovingly in his driveway.
"Whatever the latest car comes out, he's got it," said neighbor Yossi Matato, who said he recently saw a new white Jaguar at the house.
The president of the Masjid Al-Saaliheen mosque in Fresh Meadows, who did not want his name used, said Afzali came to see him Friday so upset that he cried.
"He was very sad and scared. He didn't want to be involved," the mosque president said. "He said, 'they asked me questions but I had no idea. I hope they don't turn it around on me.'"
He said yesterday's celebation of the annual Eid holiday was ruined for Muslims worried about what the arrests meant. "The whole community is in full upside-down shock. Everybody is afraid, everybody is talking about it," the imam said.
Zazi the suspect
Zazi has maintained his innocence, as has his father and a New York City imam who have also been arrested. So far authorities have only charged the three Afghan-born men with lying to investigators, which carries an eight-year maximum sentence, and not a more serious terrorism-related charge.
Zazi, 24, was arrested with his father in Colorado on Saturday while the imam, a one-time police informant named Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, was arrested in New York. All three have been living in the United States for years.
The FBI says it found a laptop in Zazi's rented car with instructions on how to make, handle and detonate explosives.
Whether or not the allegations outlined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in court papers are true, the picture they paint would make this case among the most serious within U.S. borders since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
"Here's a guy who apparently was trained in Pakistan, had knowledge of bomb-making and was trying to assemble a team. That's our worst nightmare, quite frankly," said Michael Sheehan, a former counterterrorism chief for New York police and now a private consultant.
When police on September 14 searched an apartment in the New York City borough of Queens that Zazi had visited, they told local media they confiscated cell phones and at least nine empty backpacks. The Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people involved backpacks stuffed with explosives that were detonated via cell phones.
The case also underscores how, after the September 11 attacks and the transit bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, U.S. law enforcement has been more aggressive in making arrests even as rights groups accuse them of being overly zealous.
Zazi caught red handed buying large amount of peroxide products believe to made Bomb.
Employees at several beauty supply stores in Aurora told CNN that federal agents visited their stores as part of the investigation, which led to Zazi's arrest Saturday. Some visits by federal agents were as recent as last week, they said.
Federal agents visited at least two other stores in recent weeks, workers at those stores told CNN, while a third said it had received phone calls from the FBI. Store workers said agents showed them photographs of several people during one visit, and a worker at one store said he recognized Zazi after seeing pictures of him on television.
Video from Beauty Supply Warehouse in Aurora from July 25 and August 28 show a man believed to be Zazi in the store. In the first video, the man is seen at the checkout counter putting a hydrogen peroxide product bottle on the counter, while the rest of the bottles are in his cart. He also purchases hair rollers and pins and a shower cap.
The second video shows the same man walking up and down a store aisle until he reaches some hydrogen peroxide product bottles. He puts a dozen of them into his shopping cart.
Receipts from the store show that CNN obtained show that the man bought six bottles of peroxide in July, and a dozen in August. The store said it provided the same receipts to the FBI.
Beauty Supply Warehouse CEO Karan Hoss tells CNN he also voluntarily provided the two surveillance videos to the FBI. He said they approached his store last week.
"They asked, 'Have you had any customers buying large numbers of hydrogen peroxide?' " he said.
Hoss said his staff examined its records and found they had video surveillance that appeared to correspond to the sales in question.
If convicted, the 24-year-old Zazi faces a potential sentence of life in prison.
"We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted, but as always, we remind the American public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Hydrogen Peroxide + Acetone can be powerful Bomb
According to the indictment, nine pages of notes found on Najibullah Zazi's laptop computer include formulas for making triacetone triperoxide, or TATP. The highly volatile, highly explosive compound can be made from widely available chemicals, including acetone -- the main ingredient in nail polish remover -- hydrogen peroxide, flour and muriatic acid, a diluted form of hydrochloric acid used to clean metal.
TATP was used in the 2005 London transit bombings, the 2001 Richard Reid "shoe bomb" plot and other overseas attacks. The indictment states Zazi conducted Internet research on components for explosives and made several purchases of substances that can be used to make TATP and other explosives.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, an online resource for security information, TATP is extremely sensitive to impact, temperature change and friction. Just a few hundred grams of the material produce hundreds of liters of gas in a fraction of a second, the Web site reports.
From left: Najibullah Zazi; Ahmad Wais Afzali, imam of a Queens mosque; and Mohammed Wali Zazi, Najibullah's father.The imam previously was a police informer.
FBI agents arrested Najibullah Zazi, 24, late Saturday in Aurora, Colo. The Justice Department says that he worked for more than a year on an Al Qaeda plot to detonate a weapon of mass destruction in the United States.
Najibullah Zazi tried to cook up explosives, authorities say.
An Afghan immigrant who received explosives training from al-Qaeda went from one beauty-supply store to another, buying up large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and nail-polish remover, in a chilling plot to build bombs for attacks on U.S. soil, authorities charged yesterday.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, a shuttle driver at the Denver airport, was indicted in New York on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Investigators found bomb-making instructions on his computer's hard drive and said Zazi used a hotel room in Colorado to try to cook up explosives a few weeks ago before a trip to New York.
The extent of Zazi's ties to al-Qaeda was unclear, but if the allegations prove true, this could be the first operating al-Qaeda cell to be uncovered inside the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Over the last few days, talk of the possible plot set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11.
Prosecutors said they had yet to establish exactly when and where the Zazi attacks were supposed to take place. But Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in Washington: "We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted."
The extent of Zazi's ties to al-Qaeda was unclear, but if the allegations prove true, this could be the first operating al-Qaeda cell to be uncovered inside the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Over the last few days, talk of the possible plot set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11.
A law enforcement official said yesterday that Zazi had associates in New York who were in on the plot.
Zazi was arrested in Denver last weekend and was charged along with his father and a New York imam with lying to investigators. Authorities said in the last few days that they feared Zazi and others might have been planning to detonate homemade bombs on New York trains, and warnings went out to transit systems, stadiums, and hotels nationwide.
Explosives built with hydrogen peroxide killed 52 people four years ago in the London transit system. They are easy to conceal and detonate, and last week's warnings asked authorities to be on the lookout for them.
A law enforcement official said yesterday that authorities had been so worried about Zazi - and that his Sept. 10 trip to New York coincided with a visit by President Obama - that they considered arresting him as soon as he reached the city.
Zazi left a Denver court yesterday without commenting and will be transferred to New York. He and his attorney have denied he is a terrorist.
In two unrelated terrorism cases elsewhere around the country yesterday:
Michael C. Finton, a 29-year-old man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, was arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill., officials said. FBI agents had infiltrated the alleged plot months ago.
Two North Carolina men under arrest since July on international terrorism charges were also accused by prosecutors of plotting to kill U.S. military personnel. A superseding indictment returned against Daniel Patrick Boyd and Hysen Sherifi is the first time authorities have said the homegrown terrorism ring had specific targets.
In the Zazi case, a government motion seeking to deny bail laid out a chronology of the alleged scheme, which prosecutors said had been in the works for as much as a year. The court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court also refer to "others" who bought bomb materials with Zazi.
According to prosecutors' account, Zazi - a legal U.S. resident who immigrated in 1999 - began plotting as early as August 2008 to "use one or more weapons of mass destruction." That was when he and others traveled from Newark, N.J., to Pakistan, where he received the explosives training, prosecutors said.
Within days of returning from Pakistan in early 2009, he moved to the Denver suburb of Aurora, where he used a computer to research bomb ingredients and to look up beauty-supply stores where he could buy them, according to prosecutors.
During the summer, Zazi and three unidentified associates bought "unusually large quantities" of hydrogen peroxide and acetone - a flammable solvent found in nail-polish remover - from beauty-supply stores in the Denver area, prosecutors said.
The affidavit .
Several of the officials said it was likely that Najibullah Zazi will be charged with providing material support to a known terrorist organization based on his admission that he trained in weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan last year. That admission was cited in an FBI affidavit unsealed over the weekend.
The affidavit also alleges that authorities found images on Najibullah Zazi's laptop of nine pages of notes on making explosives and fuses, apparently in his own handwriting. In addition, the affidavit alleges that authorities have found other information linking Zazi to the suspected plot, including his fingerprints on a small electronic scale and double-A batteries, which are often used in making bombs.
Zazi, who had been monitored by authorities for some time after returning from a trip to Pakistan, was stopped on a New York bridge on Sept. 10 after driving from Colorado on what he said was a trip to settle a business deal that had gone sour.
New York police checked his car and allowed him to leave, according to court documents. Soon after, police showed pictures of Zazi and several others to Afzali, the imam of a Queens mosque who had worked as a police informant in the past.
Why suspects?
azi was an airport shuttle-bus driver who journeyed to Pakistan in August 2008 for four months of training in weapons and explosives at the hands of operatives with ties to al-Qaida, investigators wrote in court papers. He returned to the U.S. in January, preparing to use the skills he had amassed, investigators wrote.
Zazi and three unidentified helpers purchased "unusually large quantities" of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products in July and August from beauty shops in and around Aurora, Colo., prosecutors wrote, citing surveillance video and receipts for "Ms. K Liquid 40 Volume" and other products. The aides traveled from New York to Denver to assist Zazi, using stolen credit cards, the Associated Press reported.
Notes that authorities discovered in a file on Zazi's computer hard drive describe explosives including triacetone triperoxide, the chemical used in the 2005 London train bombings. Zazi accessed the document on his laptop in June and July 2009, searching the Internet for "hydrochloric acid" and bookmarking a site on "lab safety," prosecutors Jeffrey Knox, Berit Berger and David Bitkower wrote.
On Sept. 6 and 7, authorities said, Zazi rented a suite in a hotel in Aurora, where FBI agents later detected "the presence of acetone ... in the vent above the stove." The bomb-making instructions mention heating the components to make them "highly concentrated," prosecutors said.
On Sept. 9, Zazi rented a car, drove to and stayed overnight in a Queens apartment, where investigators later found backpacks, cellphones and an electronic scale, which FBI agents say could have been used to weigh bomb components.
Also Thursday, a well-known New York imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, appeared in federal District Court in Brooklyn, where a magistrate set $1.5 million bail allowing for his release under electronic surveillance. Afzali was overheard on recorded conversations reportedly warning Zazi's father about law-enforcement interest earlier this month.
New York police intelligence-unit officers, who had used the imam as a source in the past, consulted Afzali about the unfolding investigation, setting off a chain of events in which Afzali became a target, accused of lying to authorities.
National-security experts said that although much about the case remains unclear, including the possible target of the plot, it is significant.
"This rises to the top in terms of level of concern in the post-9/11 environment, given what appears to be direct connections to al-Qaida in Pakistan, clear intent to perpetrate an attack, and what appears to have been final stages of preparation," said Juan Zarate, deputy national-security adviser for counterterrorism to President George W. Bush.
Police officers pull out after a raid on a suspected terrorist hideout in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Police hunting for suspects in Jakarta hotel bombings raided a hideout in central Indonesia, sparking gunfire and an explosion Thursday that left four suspected militants dead, officials said. Three alleged terrorists also were captured.
Police officers load the coffin of one of the four terror suspects killed in a police raid on a hideout into an airplane to be transported to the main police hospital in Jakarta at Adisumarmo Airport in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Gunfire and an explosion killed four suspected militants and wounded a police officer Thursday when authorities raided the alleged hideout in central Indonesia while hunting for suspects in the Jakarta hotel bombings, an official said.
Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri shows the fingerprints taken from one of the bodies of the terror suspects killed in a police raid in Central Java, right, that match with those of Malaysian terror suspect Noordin Muhammed Top, lower left, during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. The regional terrorism mastermind who eluded capture for nine years and is blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia, was killed during a raid in central Indonesia, the police chief said Thursday.
Police officers stand guard outside a suspected terrorist hideout after it was raided by anti-terror squad in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Gunfire and an explosion killed four suspected militants and wounded a police officer Thursday when authorities raided an alleged hideout in central Indonesia while hunting for suspects in Jakarta hotel bombings, an official said
A police officer stands guard outside a suspected terror hideout after it was raided by an anti terror squad in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Police hunting for suspects in the Jakarta hotel bombings raided the hideout in central Indonesia, sparking gunfire and an explosion Thursday that left four suspected militants dead, officials said. Three alleged terrorists also were captured.
UPDATES with confirmed death of militant, Noordin Muhammad Top; map locates Solo, Indonesia, where four were killed and three captured in an anti-terror raid
In this combination file photo released by the Indonesian National police, Malaysian terror suspect Noordin Muhammed Top is seen, more recently in photo at right. An Indonesian police chief said Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, that Top, a regional terrorism mastermind who eluded capture for nine years and is blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia, was killed in a police raid on a terrorist hideout in Central Java.
A police armored car is seen parked as onlookers gather near the site of police raid on a suspected terrorist hideout in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Gunfire and an explosion killed four suspected militants and wounded a police officer Thursday when authorities raided an alleged hideout in central Indonesia while hunting for suspects in Jakarta hotel bombings, an official said.
Members of Indonesian police anti-terror squad carry a box of ammunition as they walk from the site of police raid on a suspected terrorist hideout in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Gunfire and an explosion killed four suspected militants and wounded a police officer Thursday when authorities raided an alleged hideout in central Indonesia while hunting for suspects in Jakarta hotel bombings, an official said.
Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri shows the fingerprints taken from one of the bodies of the terror suspects killed in a police raid in Central Java, right, that match with those of Malaysian terror suspect Noordin Muhammed Top, lower left, during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. The regional terrorism mastermind who eluded capture for nine years and is blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia, was killed during a raid in central Indonesia, the police chief said Thursday.
Security forces surrounded the Java house overnight before a blast was heard at daybreak
A wanted posted for Noordin Muhammad Top, Indonesia’s most wanted Islamist militant.
Indonesian police (right) carry evidence from an Islamic militant hideout on the outskirts of Solo in Central Java on Thursday, after a raid on the compound killed four people, including Noordin
A woman walks past a giant wanted poster of leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top in Malang, East Java province in this August 8 file photo.
The shooting of Indonesia's most wanted militant was a step forward in the fight against regional extremism, Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday, while cautioning Jakarta against relaxing the struggle.
Authorities in Indonesia have confirmed that one of four men killed during a raid on a house in the city of Solo, on the country's main island Java, was Noordin Mohammad Top, considered to be the leading Islamic terrorist in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia's battle with terrorism may not be over, despite today's death of one of Indonesia's most-wanted men.
Indonesian police said on Thursday they had killed Noordin Mohammed Top, leader of a splinter group of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant network, in an early morning gun battle in Solo, Central Java. Three of his accomplices also died.
Mr. Noordin, a Malaysian national, was thought to have been the mastermind behind a string of bombings and terrorist attacks since 2002 that have left hundreds dead, both foreigners and locals in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
JI has at times had links to Al Qaeda, the militant Islamist network responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and to other militant groups in the region. Indonesian police, assisted by US and Australian authorities, have been under pressure to apprehend Mr. Noordin since a July 17 bomb attack on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, in which nine people, including suicide bombers, were killed and 53 wounded.
Militancy still a threat
Some 88 percent of Indonesia's 230 million people proclaim Islam as their faith. Analysts estimate only a small percentage of Indonesian Muslims subscribe to militant Islamism.
But even with Mr. Noordin's death, Indonesia still faces challenges in dealing with militant groups, as Noordin may have passed on his skills to a new generation.
A planner of the July bombings, whose name was Ibrohim, was recruited to Noordin's inner circle in 2005. The suicide bombers of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, were 18 and 28 years old, respectively. Noordin has been moving across Java for the past seven years, analysts believe, and may have had contact with a wide range of potential radicals.
The July attacks also showed JI's ability to adapt and evolve. Police investigations show that JI had been able to penetrate hotel security and place operatives within the ranks of employees. "It's a new game," says one Western intelligence official, "they've proven they can learn and adjust their methods."
The July bomb attacks in Jakarta ended a four-year lull in suicide bomb attacks in Indonesia. The militants had also planned to assassinate Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at his home with a suicide bomb.
Noordin, a recruiter and strategist for the JI network, fled with his accomplice Azahari to Indonesia from Malaysia following a Malaysian crackdown on militants after Sept. 11, 2001. Azahari was killed in a shootout with police in November 2005, but Noordin escaped.
Around 2003, Noordin's disagreement with other members of the JI network over the use of violence, even if it killed other Muslims, pushed him to form a violent splinter group, Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad.
JI's ideological roots lie in an older movement, Darul Islam, which, in the 1940s and 1950s, sought to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia. An Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, remains JI's ultimate goal.
People who know Nordin Top.
People who knew him and people who have studied his activities said Thursday that Mr. Noordin had a quiet magnetism that drew sympathizers to protect him, new recruits to join his splinter group and at least three women to marry and start families with him, giving him both cover and shelter.
“He was a quiet person, didn’t talk much, very pious,” said an Islamic clergyman, Abu Wildan, who knew him between 1993 and 2002 when he was a student and then the headmaster at Lukmanul Hakiem, an Islamic boarding school in Malaysia, where he was born.
“He prayed five times a day and was keen to look after and defend the Muslims’ rights,” Mr. Wildan said in a telephone interview. Mr. Noordin, who graduated from the University of Technology in Malaysia in 1991, taught computers, sociology and the Malay language at the boarding school, he said.
Mr. Noordin was also a networker, Mr. Wildan said, visiting friends who were sick and consulting with fellow teachers before making decisions at the boarding school.
By this time he seemed to have matured into a more focused and ambitious man, according to Nasir Abas, a former Islamist leader who defected to the government in 2003 and who was for a time Mr. Noordin’s commander.
“He is very well-organized,” Mr. Abas said in a telephone interview. “He is very charismatic. He is articulate, he is very good in influencing people to join his cause, giving encouragement and motivation.
“He could preach a very radical version of Islam but could present it in a very, very simple way to attract students whom he managed to convince,” Mr. Gunaratna said in an interview.
Mr. Noordin’s death is a major victory for security forces, he said, but it will not mean an end to violence. “He leaves behind a significant network that will continue the fight.”
At least nine people have been killed and many wounded in explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta..
CCTV recording of Ritz Carlton / JW Marriott Jakarta bombing suspect prior to the explosion
Investigators say the bombers had checked in to the Marriott on Wednesday and assembled the bombs in a room on the 18th floor, where an unexploded device was found after the blasts. CCTV cameras recorded the moment of the Marriott blast; grainy images show a man pulling a bag on wheels across the lobby before the flash of the explosion.
The bombs went off in the hotels' restaurants during breakfast. Witnesses reported seeing bloodied bodies being carried away moments after the explosions, which turned the facades of both hotels into masses of twisted metal. Others said they had seen hundreds of guests, most of whom appeared to be westerners, emerge dazed from the Ritz-Carlton as plumes of thick smoke engulfed nearby buildings and restaurants. "There were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," said a local man."
The attacks came as Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, appeared to be re-establishing itself as a tourist destination. They were the first in the country since 2005, when 20 people died in blasts on the resort island of Bali.
Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, condemned the attack as "cruel and inhuman" and vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. Yudhoyono, who was reelected last week, has been credited with bringing peace and stability to a country that had become a target for Islamist militants."[The bombers] do not have a sense of humanity and do not care about the destruction of our country, because this terror act will have a wide impact on our economy, our business climate, our tourism, our image in the world and many others," he said.
Suicide bombers kill eight and injure at least 50 in attack on Jakarta hotels.Explosions ripped through two luxury hotels in Jakarta Friday, killing eight and wounding at least 50 more, ending a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. At least 18 foreigners were among the dead and wounded.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the bombings as reflecting “the viciousness of violent extremists” and said they “remind us that the threat of terrorism remains very real.”
The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said he was "sick in the stomach as I think all Australians would feel sick in the stomach. Australians accounted for 88 of the victims in the 2002 attacks on Bali.
President Barack Obama said: "These attacks make it clear that extremists remain committed to murdering innocent men, women and children of any faith in all countries."
Below is the related 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing South Jakarta using Car bomb
Indonesia sucide explosion - warning hard pictures (WARNING UNCENSORED NEWS/images)
