Islamists 'plotted to kill 100 soldiers in US'

Islamists 'plotted to kill 100 soldiers in US'
The Times (London) - May 9, 2007, Wednesday

By: Tom Baldwin, Washington

* Six in court after FBI makes arrests

* Calls for jihad in 'disturbing' video

Six Islamic militants appeared in court yesterday and were charged with plotting to attack a US army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible", federal prosecutors said yesterday.

The group planned to send terrorists into Fort Dix, New Jersey, "to attack and kill at least one hundred soldiers by using rocket-propelled grenades or other weapons", according to a 27-page court document. They also discussed attacking two US warships that were expected to dock in Philadelphia, Fort Monmouth -which is also in New Jersey -and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The FBI arrested the six on Monday night as they tried to buy automatic weapons from an informant. "We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army," Jody Weiss, an FBI agent, said. "They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons.

Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Agents were first tipped off in January last year when a shopkeeper alerted them to a "disturbing" video that he had been asked to copy, in which ten men in their early 20s were "shooting assault weapons at a firing range...while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic 'Allah Akbar' (God is Great)".

Since then the militants had been recorded secretly by the FBI, whose tapes show one suspect, Muhammad Ibrahim Shnewer, saying: "If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix, and I don't want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily."

Another, identified as Serdar Tatar, was recorded saying: "It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away. Or I die, it doesn't matter.

I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

A third suspect, Eljvir Duka, was recorded saying: "In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone is trying (to attack) your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad." Computer files, obtained by FBI infiltrators, appeared to include the last will and testament of some of the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks on September 11, 2001. Another contained images of Osama bin Laden urging viewers to join their movement.

Tony Snow, the spokesman for the White House, said yesterday that there was "no direct evidence" that the men had ties to international terrorism. The group trained in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania in February, where officials conducted video surveillance.

Four of those who appeared in court were born in the former Yugoslavia and were described as "ethnic Albanians", while the others were from Turkey and Jordan.

Three of the men were in the US illegally and one was an American citizen.

Christopher Christie, a federal lawyer, said yesterday: "This was a serious plot put together by people who were intent on harming Americans. We are very gratified federal law enforcement was able to catch these people before they acted and took innocent life." Mr Christie said that one of the suspects had worked at Super Mario's Pizza in neighbouring Cookstown and had delivered pizzas to the Fort Dix base.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers and also housed refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

The base has been subject to tight security since the 9/11 attacks but the main road through Cookstown cuts through it and is accessible to the public.

* 13,500 Average daily number of servicemen and families on the Fort Dix base Source: GlobalSecurity.org