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Plot to Bomb New York Subway Foiled

(New York Times) Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a native of Pakistan, and James el-Shafay, 19, a U.S. citizen, were arrested Friday on suspicion of plotting to blow up a New York City subway station. The men's motive appeared to be "basically hatred for the system," said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. (CNN) In tape-recorded conversations with an informant this month, both men can be heard repeatedly discussing plans to plant bombs on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and in subway stations, and el-Shafay had drawn a map of the bridges and police precincts on Staten Island. At one point Siraj declared he was "ready for jihad," and in another taped conversation, el-Shafay declared his hatred of "Zionists" and expressed "solidarity with the Palestinian people." One high-ranking police official said the men were representative of disenfranchised young Muslim men in the city who had become more radical by listening to sermons preaching jihad.
2004-08-30 00:00:00
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