Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Jihad in America   [Andy McCarthy]

In South Jersey to be precise.  The Newark Star-Ledger reports that the government has arrested "six Islamic radicals who were planning a heavily armed attack against soldiers at Fort Dix as part of a jihad against America, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office."

The account continues: 

In a statement released this morning that confirmed an earlier report on The Star-Ledger's Web site, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the men planned to "kill as many soldiers as possible."

The alleged plot included conducting surveillance of the Army base and purchasing multiple firearms, including hand guns, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons, according to federal complaint released this morning.

The bust came after several of them were lured to a meeting with an arms-seller who turned out to be a secret FBI informant, according to the complaint.

Some of the would-be attackers have been living illegally in the United States, while others are illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Four are ethnic Albanians, one was born in Turkey, and a sixth was born in Jordan, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Officials identified the men as Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar and Mohamad Shnewer and Agron Abdullahu.

The six had been under FBI surveillance for 16 months and prepared for their alleged plot by shooting paintball guns and real weapons in Gouldsboro, Pa., 30 miles southeast of Scranton, officials said. They also allegedly watched jihadist videos in which Osama bin Laden urged them toward martyrdom.

"They were prepared to die," said the law enforcement source. "We became increasingly convinced this was for real and these guys were ready to roll."

The men had scouted out Dover Air Force Base and Fort Monmouth before settling on Fort Dix, a base that is used to mobilize troops to Iraq, said the source.

05/08 10:55 AMShare