US Govt: Other Targets Eyed Before NYC Subway Plot
BROOKLYN (AP) — Three former high school classmates, after getting terror training at an al-Qaida outpost, discussed bombing New York City movie theaters, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and the New York Stock Exchange before targeting the city's subways, a prosecutor said Monday at the trial for one of the men.
Once back home, Adis Medunjanin and the others formed a sleeper cell of would-be suicide bombers that in 2009 nearly pulled off one of the most chilling terror plots since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Loonam. The terror network valued them for their U.S. passports, which allowed them to slip back into the United States and "blend in" until it was time to strike, he said.
The men "were prepared to kill themselves and everyone else around them — men, women and children," Loonam said during opening statements in federal court in Brooklyn. "These men came so close — within days of carrying out this attack."