Kenyan Man Charged With Plotting 9/11-Style Aerial Attack On The USA

According to reports on Rappler.com, he was arrested in the Philippines with a bomb and a gun in 2019.

Acting Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said: " This chilling call-back to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al Shabaab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States."

Assistant Attorney General John Demers said: "This case, which involved a plot to use an aircraft to kill innocent victims, reminds us of the deadly threat that radical Islamic terrorists continue to pose to our nation,"

Prosecutors claims that Abdullah - acting under the direction of a senior al-Shabaab commander - travelled across to the Philippines in 2016 and began training at a flight school for "the purpose of obtaining training for carrying out the 9/11-style attack."

According to the court documents, he completed that training and obtained his pilot's license in 2019.

He is also accused of researching plans for how to hi-jack aeroplanes that included breaching a cockpit door during his time at flight school.

Abdullah also allegedly sought to discover information "about the tallest building in a major U.S. city, and information about how to obtain a U.S. visa."

The federal authorities haven't disclosed the specific target or the location within the United States.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said: "Nearly 20 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there are those who remain determined to conduct terror attacks against United States citizens. Abdullah, we allege, is one of them.

"He obtained a pilot's license overseas, learning how to hijack an aircraft for the purpose of causing a mass-casualty incident within our borders."

Abdullah has been charged with conspiring to provide and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation (al-Shabaab) as well as conspiring to murder US nationals, conspiring to destroy aircraft, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy, and conspiring to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

He will appear at a court in New York later today.