Bridge targeted by al Qaeda

An Ohio truck driver, who met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and plotted to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, has pleaded guilty to providing support to the al Qaeda network.

US officials said Iyman Faris, a truck driver based in Columbus who entered the United States in 1994 and became a US citizen five years later, admitted as part of the plea deal that he gave al Qaeda information about possible US targets for attack.

None of the plotted attacks, including his casing of the Brooklyn Bridge to see if its suspension cables could be severed, was ever carried out. "I believe the plots had to be taken seriously," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

Faris, 34, who was born in Kashmir, admitted his guilt as part of a plea deal with US Government prosecutors, in which he agreed to co-operate fully and truthfully.

He faces up to 20 years in prison and a US$500,000 ($866,851) fine at his August 1 sentencing.

The guilty plea to supporting and conspiring to support al Qaeda was entered at a closed hearing on May 1.

"In apprehending Faris and reaching this plea agreement, we have taken another American-based al Qaeda operative off the streets who appeared to be a hardworking American trucker, but secretly scouted terrorist strikes that could have killed many of his fellow citizens," Ashcroft said.

Faris admitted travelling with a longtime friend from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2000. At a training camp in Afghanistan, Faris was introduced to bin Laden, Ashcroft said.

Faris admitted that during a meeting that year, one of bin Laden's men asked him about "ultralight" aircraft, and told him that al Qaeda wanted to procure an "escape airplane", Ashcroft said.

Faris admitted that about two months later, he performed an internet search at a cafe in Karachi, Pakistan, and obtained information about the planes, which he gave to al Qaeda.

Last year in Pakistan, a top al Qaeda official, identified by US law enforcement officials as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, told Faris the network planned two simultaneous attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, the officials said.

Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks, spoke to Faris about destroying the Brooklyn Bridge by severing its suspension cables, they said. He ordered Faris to get the equipment needed for that operation.

Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan in March and has been in US custody overseas, also told Faris al Qaeda was planning to derail trains, and asked him to get the tools for that plot.

Faris admitted that on returning to the US from Pakistan in April last year, he researched "gas cutters" and the Brooklyn Bridge on the internet.

Between April 2002 and March last year, he sent several coded messages through another individual to his longtime friend in Pakistan, indicating he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain the necessary equipment, the officials said.

Faris admitted travelling to New York City in 2002 to examine the bridge and said he concluded the plot to destroy it by severing cables was unlikely to succeed because of its security and structure, they said.

Last year he sent a message that "the weather is too hot", a code meant to convey that the bridge plot was unlikely to succeed, the officials said.

- REUTERS