Terror averted: Bomb plot in Oregon thwarted
US law enforcement agencies thwarted an attempt to blow up a car bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
SAN FRANCISCO:
US law enforcement agencies thwarted an attempt to blow up a car bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon, and arrested the suspected bomber, officials said on Saturday.
He was identified as 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalised US citizen of Somali descent. Mohamud was arrested after he attempted to remotely detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van that was parked near the tree lighting ceremony in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, officials said. But the device was in fact a fake supplied by the FBI.
According to court documents, Mohamud was in email contact with an accomplice overseas located in northern Pakistan. They discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2010.
US law enforcement agencies thwarted an attempt to blow up a car bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon, and arrested the suspected bomber, officials said on Saturday.
He was identified as 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalised US citizen of Somali descent. Mohamud was arrested after he attempted to remotely detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van that was parked near the tree lighting ceremony in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, officials said. But the device was in fact a fake supplied by the FBI.
According to court documents, Mohamud was in email contact with an accomplice overseas located in northern Pakistan. They discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2010.