US man charged with plotting to attack US military base in Afghanistan
An American citizen inspired by the al-Qaeda terrorist group has been charged with plotting to attack a US military base in Afghanistan.
Muhanad Mahmoud al-Farekh, 30, is accused of conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and other crimes, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Farekh was charged Wednesday with helping unidentified bombers to build explosives for a bombing attack on American base in Afghanistan on January 19, 2009.
The charges stem from an attack involving two vehicles driven by unidentified suicide bombers that were rigged with explosives. Farekh's fingerprints were later found on packing tape used on the second explosive.
The court papers did not identify the base or the extent of the damage caused by the attacks. However, news media at the time reported a dual-car bomb attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost City, near the border with Pakistan.
The attack killed one Afghan and wounded several others, but harmed no Americans.
He is to appear Thursday in federal court in New York. If convicted, al-Farekh faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
The suspect, who was born in Texas, "allegedly turned his back on our country and tried to kill US soldiers in the course of executing their sworn duty to keep us safe," Brooklyn US Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement.
Al-Farekh was extradited from Pakistan to the US in April and was initially charged with providing material support to al-Qaeda terrorists.
Back then, al-Farekh and two students at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, were accused of watching al-Qaeda propaganda and conspiring to join it. They purportedly flew to Karachi, Pakistan, in 2007 after selling all of their belongings.
Prosecutors accused one of al-Farekh’s co-conspirators with training three men to use AK-47 rifles at one of the terror group’s training bases. The trainees were later convicted of plotting to bomb New York City's subway system and are now cooperating with federal authorities.
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