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Somali-born teenager plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he didn't mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, according to a law-enforcement official and court documents.
He never got the chance. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested on Friday in downtown Portland in the state of Oregon after using a mobile phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, prosecutors said. It turned out to be a dummy bomb put together by FBI agents, and authorities said the people of the West Coast city were never in danger.
The case is the latest in a string of alleged terrorist plots by United States citizens or residents - including a Times Square plot in which a Pakistan-born man pleaded guilty earlier this year to trying to set off a car bomb at a busy street corner.
In the Portland plot, Mohamud believed he was receiving help from a larger ring of jihadists as he communicated with undercover agents, but a law enforcement official who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on a condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that no foreign terrorist organization was directing him.
The official said Mohamud planned the details, including where to park the van to hurt the most people.
"I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave dead or injured," Mohamud said, according to the affidavit.
Thousands of people gathered on Friday on a cold, clear night for the annual event at Pioneer Courthouse Square, a plaza known as "Portland's living room".
Just 10 minutes before Mohamud's 5:40 pm arrest, babies were sitting on shoulders, and children cheered at the first appearance of Santa Claus onstage. The tree-lighting went off without a hitch.
Mohamud graduated from high school in Beaverton. He was enrolled at Oregon State University over the past year but withdrawing Oct 6, the school said.
The law enforcement official who spoke to the AP said agents began investigating Mohamud after receiving a tip from someone concerned about him. The official declined providing further more detail about the relationship between the two.
The FBI monitored Mohamud's e-mail and found he was in contact with people overseas, asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad, according to an FBI affidavit.
The law enforcement official said Mohamud e-mailed a friend living in Pakistan who had been a student in Oregon in 2007-2008 and been in Yemen as well.
The e-mail exchanges led the FBI to believe that Mohamud's friend in Pakistan "had joined others in terrorist activities" and invited Mohamud to join him, officials said
（中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Helen 編輯）
Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China Daily for one year.
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