A terrorist tried to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan with a 1,000-pound bomb this morning, authorities said.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, parked a van filled with what he thought were real explosives outside of the Liberty Street building, sources said, then tried to set them off using a cell phone detonator.
Nafis obtained 20 50-pound bags of explosives from an undercover FBI agent that he met on the Internet, authorities said.
In a statement meant to take responsibility for the attack, Nafis said he wanted to "destroy America," by targeting its economy.
He quoted "our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden," to justify the fact that he expected to killed women and children, the Department of Justice said.
Nafis is a Bangladeshi national who is here on a student visa, a law-enforcement source said.
He came to the US to carry out a terror attack, authorities said, and claimed to have connections to al-Qaeda overseas.
He tried to recruit more terrorists to carry out an attack -- in the process, he unwittingly enlisted the help of an undercover FBI agent.
The agent made contact with the jihadist about three months ago. The suspect told him that he wanted to blow up the bank, the sources said.
The suspect and the FBI agent planned the attack for months, sources said.
This morning, after parking the van, he went to the Millennium Hilton near the World Trade Center, where he called the cell phone in the van.
It did not explode, and he was arrested by federal agents.
The terrorist was the only one arrested, sources said.
He faces charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda at his arraignment this afternoon in Brooklyn Federal court.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/terrorist_wannbe_attempts_to_blow_nLpU0NvebBebzQhjPNv8CM
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