NYC Train Suspects Linked to Al Qaeda
Charles Johnson
Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 9:04 am PDT • Views: 284
The latest on the New York City train plot suspects: Tunnel Plot Suspects Linked to Al-Qaeda. (Hat tip: sr_soph.)
The Lebanese man arrested in an alleged plot to bomb New York transit tunnels under the Hudson River had been recruited by al-Qaeda three years ago and members of his cell had been attempting to seek help from the organization for the attack, U.S. and Lebanese officials said yesterday.
Authorities announced the arrest of Assem Hammoud, 31, on Friday. They said he had been held in Beirut since April 27 and had been planning an assault on PATH commuter trains this fall, though the alleged conspiracy never reached the point of the suspects beginning to gather intelligence and explosives.
In addition to Hammoud, U.S. officials say, two suspects are being held overseas without charges, five others are at least partly identified and six foreign governments are cooperating.
Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, commander of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, said one suspect left Syria for Libya, where he has been arrested. Authorities would not say where the third suspect in custody is being held. At some point, Rifi said, the suspects were in Bosnia, Canada, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates. Rifi said one of the suspects was an Iranian Kurd who has not been arrested.
FBI Assistant Director John Miller said, “It was a self-initiating foreign cell that had access to al-Qaeda’s connections.”
Frank says: