Terrorism Charges Filed Against Detained British Resident

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From 'AFP': The Pentagon announced war crimes charges against a British resident alleged to have conspired with al-Qaeda to launch bomb attacks on apartment buildings and gas stations in the United States. Binyan Mohammed, an electrical engineer born in Ethiopia, was charged with conspiracy and material support for terrorism on May 28th, according to charge sheets released by the Pentagon. A Pentagon official who oversees the special military commissions set up to try "war on terror" cases in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba must review the charges and decide whether to refer them to trial. The charge sheets allege that Mohammed was given instructions by alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to travel to the United States to blow up apartment buildings and gas stations.

Mohammed and Jose Padilla, an American detainee who was found guilty last year of terrorism charges by a US court, were stopped at the airport in Karachi as they were leaving the country to carry out the plot, the charges allege. Padilla continued on to Chicago, Illinois where he was taken into custody in April 2002, but Mohammed stayed behind. The charges allege that Mohammed was trained in weapons and explosives in Al-Qaeda camps in 2001, served on the Taliban frontlines near Bagram against the Northern Alliance, and was told he would be assigned to a specialized terrorism mission.

Mohammed left Afghanistan for Pakistan after September 2001, meeting Padilla on the way, according to the charges. At a safehouse in Lahore, they read technical information stored on a computer on how to build a "dirty bomb" with radioactive materials "that they could detonate in a public place in the United States," the charges allege. "They also discussed other plans against the United States, such as blowing up gas tankers with piercing bullets and spraying people with cyanide in nightclubs," the charge sheet said. "They determined that one of the purposes for the attacks on the United States was to help 'free the prisoners in Cuba,'" it said. They allegedly met with Saif al Adel, an Al-Qaeda operative, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Karachi, who told Mohammed and Padilla that their mission would involve targeting buildings with natural gas and gas stations in the United States.

"Specifically, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed suggested that Binyam Mohammed and Jose Padilla rent several apartments in large apartment buildings in the United States, fill the apartments with natural gas after sealing the apartments in order to contain the natural gas, and then detonate the natural gas using delayed timing devices," the charge sheet said. "Binyam Mohammed and Padilla agreed to conduct this operation," it said. It said Mohammed received 6,000 dollars and Padilla 10,000 dollars to carry out the mission.