UPDATE: Suspected Bomber Plotted at Alexandria Hotel on Valentine's Day
Amine El Khalifi, 29, taken into federal custody.
6 p.m. update — Amine El Khalifi, 29, of Alexandria, the suspect in custody for allegedly plotting to detonate a bomb at the U.S. Capitol, did some last-minute planning for the proposed attack at an Alexandria hotel on Valentine's Day, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday afternoon. The affidavit does not identify the hotel.
At the hotel, the alleged terrorist met with undercover police who he thought were his partners in crime. While at the hotel, he watched himself in a mirror as he practiced how he would detonate the bomb and hold off anyone at the Capitol using a gun, the affidavit noted. A gun he was practicing with at the time, a Mac-10, was not loaded.
El Khalifi in December told undercover police he wanted to target an Alexandria office building, according to the affidavit. The building contains offices occupied by the U.S. military. The suspect told undercover police that he was unsure about carrying out the plan though because the military only occupied part of the building.
The suspect also told undercover police that he wanted to target a synagogue or an Army general.
On or about Jan. 8, El Khalifi purchased two jackets and a cell phone "in and around" Alexandria, the FBI affidavit noted. He also purchased nails for a bomb at a hardware store in Alexandria, the affidavit said.
Police arrested El Khalifi Friday in a parking garage at the Capitol where he told undercover police he intended to shoot people before detonating a bomb, according to the affidavit. The gun and bomb were inoperable. He traveled to the Capitol from Northern Virginia.
The FBI searched a home in Alexandria Friday afternoon at 3800 Wyndham Circle in Alexandria, as Patch reported earlier. Federal authorities confirmed the home is related to the bombing plot.
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5 p.m. update — The FBI is also searching homes in Arlington County's Douglas Park community in connection to the U.S. Capitol plot, Clarendon Patch reports.
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3:40 p.m. update — The FBI confirmed to Patch that it is conducting a search warrant on Wyndham Circle in the West End of Alexandria.
Federal law enforcement said the search is related to the suspect apprehended while allegedly trying to carry out a suicide bombing on the U.S. Capitol.
Around 3 p.m., an Alexandria Police cruiser was parked outside 3800 Wyndham Circle. Television trucks had converged on the Pointe at Park Center apartments, a gated community just off Ford Avenue near Interstate 395.
An evidence marker was seen hanging inside an open closet attached to the balcony of a first-floor apartment unit.
The Huffington Post is reporting that Amine El Khalifi, 29, of Alexandria, was taken into custody with an inoperable gun and inert explosives.
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The FBI has arrested a man who was allegedly trying to carry out a suicide bombing on the U.S. Capitol, several media outlets are reporting.
CBS News reports that the suspect is a 29-year-old man in the United States illegally and living in Alexandria, according to officials.
The man had been seeking assistance in executing a terrorist attack against the United States. Officials were investigating him for months. FBI agents arrested him in his garage in Alexandria after providing him with what he believed was a suicide vest, according to CBS.
The Washington Post reports that a U.S. official said a man in his 30s and of Moroccan descent was picked up near the Labor Department on his way to the Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack. He was carrying with him a vest supposedly packed with explosives, but the material actually was not dangerous, officials said.
Larry Traub
9:39 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
It seems like all the terrorist plotters start their plan and attempt to build their bombs in Alexandria. They also end up on trial in the Alexandria court. What is it about bombers that love Alexandria so much?
I'd rather have restauranteurs...
T Ailshire
1:59 pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012
How many more people will the FBI coerce into illegal acts? Is the FBI that afraid of budget cuts?
This scenario is so commonly offered that it seems the FBI is probably finding people who think of violent acts, but would never carry them out, and convince them to try. I'm not convinced.
Haunches
2:17 pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012
Please. Mr. AL Khalifi is a radicalized nutjob bent on killing Americans. Nothing more.
THe more disturbing aspect is that he was targeting "an Alexandria office building, according to the affidavit. The building contains offices occupied by the U.S. military." That sounds like BRAC, which remains a juicy, tempting target for terrrorists. If true, we will never know since neother the city nor DoD will ever concede the obvious -- that the BRAC building is a terrorist dream -- soft target, vulnerable from many directions, military presence, population center.
doug redman
2:19 pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012
T. AIlshire...how would you propose to ID those who will carry it out and those who won't. If one out of 10 are perfectly willing is that an acceptable number? How many innocent people might die? If these nucklheads go as far as strapping on what they believe to be an explosives vest and and going to the capital...I think their pretty serious. If that happened we'd have people wondering where the FBI was...it's a no win situation and I for one would err on the side of public safety.
T Ailshire
2:57 pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012
I maintain these individuals would *not* go strapping on a vest without FBI assistance. If he's dumb enough to fall into a trap like this, he's not smart enough to carry out a real attack undetected.
The only way to be 100% safe is to turn over all our liberties to the government. I'm not willing to do that.
J Mulcahy
10:49 pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012
T Ailshire,
The guy was in the country illegally. I would agree if this were a US citizen engaged in a routine crime, it would smell of entrapment. The trouble is that a loser in life such as this guy, Al Khalifi, gets radicalized and then can be funded by islamist support groups. It's an easy way for these guys to get income. Your speculation that he was coaxed into it, is pure speculation. I prefer not to take the risk that he was too stupid to succeed in an actual plot. It was he who initiated the contact. His mistake was to contact an FBI informant. Thank God he did. He could have easily reached out to fellow islamist symphathizers of which there are many in Northern Virginia.
T Ailshire
5:39 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
@J Mulcahy, he could just as easily found a Muslim in Northern Virginia who would have turned him in. There are lots more of them.
Look at how many "suspected terrorists" have found undercover officers to work with, and how many "suspected terrorists" the FBI has provided with materials in the past few years.
But if they keep the people terrified, their budget doesn't get cut. Guess it makes sense in some worlds.
Haunches
6:00 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Or maybe the FBI has become better at identifying radicalized terrorists. Both are equally possible.
It is hard to accept but there are people in the world dedicated to killing Americans, and they really do not care about their targets' politics, religion, race, sex or sexual orientation.