NEW YORK (1010 WINS/ AP) -- An MIT-educated Pakistani woman, linked to al-Qaida, allegedly had a map and list of potential targets of New York City landmarks including the Statue of Liberty.
Aafia Siddiqui, 36, is accused of trying to kill U.S. employees in a gunfight in Afghanistan after police said they discovered suspicious documents about explosives and landmarks in her handbag.
Law enforcement officials say when Siddiqui was detained in Afghanistan on July 17 she possessed documents with a list of likely targets that included the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the subway system and the animal disease center on Plum Island. They say she also had detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information.
In addition, Siddiqui had e-mails linking her to possible "sleeper" cells in the United States.
"I don't think we've captured anybody as important, and as well connected as she since 2003," says former CIA officer John Kiriakou.
Siddiqui also was carrying ``chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in bottles and glass jars,'' a criminal complaint said without elaborating.
The day after Siddiqui was detained, as a team of FBI agents and U.S. military officers prepared to question her, she allegedly snatched a soldier's rifle and pointed it at an Army captain. She fired two shots but missed because an interpreter pushed the weapon aside, authorities allege.
She was wounded when a soldier fired at her in response. Even after being hit, Siddiqui struggled and shouted in English that she wanted ``to kill Americans'' before the officers subdued her, the complaint said.
She was given medical aid and later flown to New York to be formally charged in a federal court. She was ordered held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault in the July incident.
At a 2004 news conference, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III identified Siddiqui as one of seven people the FBI wanted to question about their suspected ties to al-Qaida -- an allegation her family has vehemently denied.
U.S. authorities said at the time that Siddiqui had received a biology degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had written a doctoral thesis on neurological sciences at Brandeis University, outside Boston. They said they believed she returned to Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and later vanished for several years.
Though they never alleged Siddiqui was a full-fledged member of al-Qaida, they said they believed she could be a ``fixer,'' someone with knowledge of the United States who supported other operatives trying to slip into the country and plot attacks.
If convicted, Siddiqui faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge. |
