This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4093

NY terrorists plotted backpack bombs to kill as many people as possible

September 16, 2009

NY Al-Qaeda Plot Update - Extensive Plans To Produce Massive Civilian Casualties

September 16, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The New York Post is reporting [see, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/qns_qaeda_plotted_backpack_bombs_cBsiSRURqx71SFgx9xkL5L] that the raids conducted in Queens a few days ago [see, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=ny9.14.09%2Ehtm] on three residences has convinced the Feds that the al-Qaeda linked terror suspects intended to detonate multiple anti-personnel explosive devices hidden in backpacks, so as to produce maximum casualties.

The investigation is still in its earliest stages, but the Feds are apparently "furious" with local law enforcement for inadvertently tipping off the plotters while conducting less-than-professional field investigations. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=ny9.16.09%2Ehtm

Najibullah Zazi (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

For more on the investigation into Najibullah Zazi see:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13345591

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_target_of_fbi_raid_in_queens_im_not_a_terrorist.html

Watch video as the FBI raids suspected apartments in New York.

Qns. 'Qaeda' plotted backpack bombs


By SELIM ALGAR in Aurora, Colo., and RICH CALDER in New York


New York Post Last Updated: 8:28 AM, September 16, 2009 Posted: 5:58 AM, September 16, 2009

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/qns_qaeda_plotted_backpack_bombs_cBsiSRURqx71SFgx9xkL5L

The terror plot unearthed after raids on three Queens homes involved operatives detonating nine explosives-laden backpacks to kill "as many people as possible," The Post has learned. "They were going to blow up several places simultaneously and take out as many people as possible -- a large number of people," a federal law-enforcement official said.

Empty backpacks were among the evidence seized from one of the Flushing apartments raided by a NYPD-FBI team Monday. Authorities also removed computers, cellphones and other material. No explosives were found.
The predawn raids were sparked by the reappearance in New York City of an al Qaeda associate who'd gotten top-level training in bomb-making at a Pakistani terrorist camp, sources said. Najibullah Zazi was schooled in demolitions and military tactics along with several other men; all eventually settled in Queens, according to the sources. But when Zazi got wind that he was being watched, he hightailed it back to Aurora, Colo., where he now lives, although he was shadowed on the plane by FBI agents.

Now, feds are virtually monitoring Zazi's every move, phone call and computer stroke, the sources said. Law enforcement also is trying to track down former confederates-in-arms whom he may have met over the past week, the sources said. "I know they are looking at me, but I didn't do anything," said Zazi, who once worked as a Manhattan coffee-cart vendor.

Last week, he drove from Colorado to Queens in a rental car. He told The Associated Press he was pulled over during a "traffic stop" while driving into the city. Even as the investigation intensifies, the FBI is furious with the NYPD for tipping off Zazi -- by canvassing his old Flushing neighborhood rather than discreetly inquiring about him. Sources said the feds would have preferred to lie in wait a little longer to see what he and his contacts were planning. An NYPD spokesman called those claims "an utter fabrication."

Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett and Kati Cornell.

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4093