The new charges, says the WaPo, “present the government’s clearest case to date that the main al-Qaeda organization remains active in trying to attack U.S. targets.” This was in question? “Al-Qaeda operative is charged in N.Y. subway plot,” by Spencer S. Hsu for the Washington Post, July 8 (thanks to Block Ness):
A Saudi American al-Qaeda operative based in Pakistan personally directed a failed plot to bomb New York City’s subway last September, federal authorities charged Wednesday, asserting that the same al-Qaeda unit helped plan an attack that was thwarted last year in Britain.
Newly unsealed charges against Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 34, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lived in New York City and South Florida before fleeing after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, present the government’s clearest case to date that the main al-Qaeda organization remains active in trying to attack U.S. targets, alongside similar efforts by al-Qaeda affiliates.
In addition to alleging Shukrijumah’s operational role, the superceding indictment returned in the Eastern District of New York identified five other suspects tied to the plot, led by Colorado airport shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi, to set off suicide bombs in New York’s transit system. Officials did not make public the name of one of the five and provided only aliases for another. […]
U.S. officials launched a global manhunt for Shukrijumah in 2003, setting a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture and calling him an “imminent threat to U.S. citizens and interests.”…