IRIS' Israel Blog

This blog previously reported that Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi plead guilty to charges connected to a New York subway bombing plot. The Associated Press now reports that 2 more Afghans have been indicted in the New York City bomb plot:

Two high school classmates of admitted terrorist plotter Najibullah Zazi were indicted Thursday in a foiled scheme to bomb New York City subways that a prosecutor said was directed by “al-Qaida leadership.”

Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin, both 25, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

The three men were planning an attack on city subway lines last September under the direction of leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network that would have been similar to the 2005 London subway bombings that killed more than 50 people, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Knox said.

“The facts alleged in this indictment shed further light on the scope of this attempted attack…,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “This attack would have been deadly”…

Medunjanin and Ahmedzay — who authorities say traveled to Pakistan with Zazi in 2008… faced charges in the alleged plot.

Medunjanin has pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. His lawyer, Robert C. Gottlieb, said this week he didn’t know whether Zazi told prosecutors anything about his client but Zazi’s decision to plead guilty “obviously affects the overall prosecution.”

Ahmedzay has pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to the FBI during the probe about places he visited during the 2008 trip.

Zazi’s uncle, father and a Queens imam face lesser charges in the case.

The New York Times reports that an Afghan immigrant plead guilty to charges concerning a bombing plot in the New York subway:

The Afghan immigrant at the center of what the authorities described as one of the most serious threats to the United States since 9/11 pleaded guilty Monday to terrorism charges in what he said was a Qaeda plot to detonate a bomb in the New York subway.

Najibullah Zazi admitted that he came to New York last year… to kill himself and others on the subway using a homemade bomb.

He characterized the plot as a “martyrdom operation” that he was just days away from executing when he realized he was under government surveillance.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said… : “This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion and it would have been deadly.”

Zazi told the court he went with friends to Pakistan in August 2008 to join the Taliban in fighting the U.S. in Afghanistan.

While in Pakistan, he received training in making bombs, and was persuaded by Qaeda operatives to return to America to be a suicide bomber. They discussed possible targets, including the New York subway system.