'NY bomb plot directed by al Qaeda in Pakistan'

Najibullah Zazi is escorted by U.S. Marshals after a helicopter landing at a New York Police Department facility in Brooklyn. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON: Self-confessed al Qaeda agent Najibullah Zazi, who pleaded guilty to plotting a New York subway bombing, was directed by the group’s leadership in Pakistan, US officials said on Wednesday.

In an additional indictment against five alleged militants, the US Justice Department revealed Zazi’s plan was “directly related to a scheme by al Qaeda plotters in Pakistan to use Western operatives to attack a target in the United Kingdom.”

The new charges “underscore the global nature of the terrorist threat we face,” said prosecutor David Kris.

Earlier this year, Zazi pleaded guilty to the three charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to the al Qaeda network.

Zazi, a legal US resident based in Colorado, said he was ready to “sacrifice” himself “to draw the attention to what the United States is doing in Afghanistan.”