Shahriar Ahmed, right, president of the Bilal Mosque Association in Beaverton, Ore., makes remarks while Imam Mikal Shabazz, president of the Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization, looks on during a news conference on the front steps of the City Hall, condemning Friday's alleged bomb plot Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, in Portland, Ore. Shabazz and Ahmed said they were shocked by the plot but relieved there was never any danger to the public. – Photo by AP

LOS ANGELES: A suspected arson attack destroyed part of a mosque attended by the US-Somali man who is accused of plotting a car bomb attack in the US state of Oregon, on the eve of his appearance in court Monday.

One room in the Corvallis Mosque, in the hometown of 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, was gutted in the overnight blaze while neighboring rooms suffered smoke damage, said the town's fire department.

Mohamud will appear in court Monday after being arrested in a sting operation by the FBI while attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday evening.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers are also involved in investigating the Corvallis blaze, as well as local police, Corvallis official Andy Louden told AFP.

“The fire appears to have been intentionally set,” said the Corvallis Fire Department in a statement, adding there were no injuries. The fire was sparked shortly after 2:00 am and extinguished within 10 minutes.

The mosque's imam, Yosof Wanly, said he knew Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who began attending about 18 months ago but did not come regularly. “I knew him as a student,” he told the local CBS affiliate KVAL.

“He never discussed jihad and it's unfortunate because he is bringing attention to Islam in a negative way. It's unfortunate that this one individual brings negativity to the Islamic religion.”Mohamud was arrested Friday after he tried to remotely detonate what he thought was an explosives-laden van parked near the tree ceremony, which went ahead in state capital Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.

But the device was, in fact, a fake supplied by undercover agents from the FBI who had contacted Mohamud months before and pretended to be accomplices in the plot.

“The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale,” said FBI special agent Arthur Balizan.

According to court documents, Mohamud exchanged emails with a contact in Pakistan's northwest frontier province late last year, and discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad.

In June this year an FBI undercover agent contacted Mohamud -- a naturalized US citizen registered at the University of Oregon -- pretending to be an associate of his Pakistani contact.

After meeting the agent in Portland in July, he said he had been thinking of conducting a holy war against infidels since the age of 15, and suggested the plot to bomb Friday's traditional pre-Christmas ceremony in the Oregon capital.

FBI operatives cautioned Mohamud several times about the seriousness of this plan, noting that there would be many children at the event.

But Mohamud responded that he was looking for a “huge mass that will... be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays,”the documents noted.

Earlier this month, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote location in Lincoln County, Oregon, where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a rehearsal of the upcoming attack.

“I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured,” Mohamud said of the Christmas tree ceremony, according to the court documents.

That same day, he recorded a video, in which he read a written statement that offered a rationale for his bomb attack.

On Friday afternoon, hours before the planned attack, Mohamud met the undercover agents to make the final preparations.

“Mohamud went and looked at the bomb, which was in the back of a large white van. When Mohamud saw the bomb, he told the (undercover agents) it was 'beautiful',” said the affidavit. –AFP

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
Updated 29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

It is clear that going after militant groups inside Afghanistan unilaterally presents its own set of difficulties.
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...