U.S. al Qaeda Cell Suspected

Wall Street JournalOfficials Suggest Group Is First Uncovered Here Since 9/11; Zazi in Court ThursdayBy CAM SIMPSON and EVAN PEREZWASHINGTON -- The terror probe that burst into the spotlight in New York last week may have led authorities to the first active al Qaeda cell uncovered inside the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to officials familiar with the matter.Current and former U.S. officials say the allegations in the case embody their worst fears -- that a legal U.S. resident could quietly leave the country, receive explosives training from al Qaeda in a lawless region of Pakistan, then return to U.S. soil.Thus far, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant and two others have been charged only with lying to federal agents in a terrorism investigation. Assessing the conclusions reached by federal authorities, who say they don't know what the group was planning, is difficult. A fuller accounting won't be possible until the men go to trial and possibly not even then.Hundreds of terrorism-related prosecutions, many for far more serious charges than lying to investigators, have been filed by U.S. authorities since the 9/11 attacks. On numerous occasions, U.S. officials have made startling allegations about terrorism suspects, only to later significantly dial back their rhetoric.Najibullah Zazi, of Aurora, Colo., is scheduled to appear in federal court in Denver Thursday. His lawyer has rejected allegations that the 24-year-old airport-shuttle driver, a former longtime resident of Flushing, N.Y., was involved with al Qaeda.The Federal Bureau of Investigation alleges that Mr. Zazi last week admitted receiving explosives training during 2008 from al Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan before returning to the U.S. The FBI said it found an image on Mr. Zazi's laptop computer containing nine pages of handwritten notes on bomb-making and handling, and that the case is connected to a plot to detonate bombs inside the U.S. The scope of the plot and potential targets are unclear.Prosecutors are expected to ask a judge to hold Mr. Zazi without bond. His father, 53-year-old Mohammed Zazi, also of Aurora, is expected to be released on several conditions, including electronic monitoring. A third man charged with lying to authorities, onetime New York Police Department informant Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of Flushing, is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Brooklyn.U.S. officials caution that there is much they don't know about Mr. Zazi and the other suspects. They also say the current case contains allegations that are highly unusual since 9/11. It appears to be only the second time a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is alleged to have traveled overseas after 9/11 to train with al Qaeda, then come back to live in the U.S. Also, many previous cases were built around paid government informants, which wasn't the case here, officials said.In connection with the Zazi case, federal investigators are combing records on the purchases of chemicals, particularly hydrogen peroxide, that could be used to make bombs. Peroxide-based explosives were used in a deadly attack on London's subway and bus system in July 2005, and al Qaeda's interest in such explosives has been a top concern for the FBI, according to intelligence assessments made public.Two U.S. officials said key allegations in the case are more reminiscent of the London and other European plots than any other case seen to date in the U.S. "This appears to be different than any of the previous cases because it looks very similar to what we've seen recently in Europe," one of the officials said.Current and former officials say Mr. Zazi's profile is also a factor leading them toward their conclusion of an al Qaeda link."The best chance for success [al Qaeda leaders] have is to get somebody who is not a visitor, so they come in as a permanent resident or citizen, who knows the culture and how to move around, who doesn't have a record, so as not to get picked up in a database," said a former senior U.S. official. Mr. Zazi is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.That is similar to a profile FBI Director Robert Mueller called his top-tier concern when he testified before the Senate in September 2007 following the release of a special National Intelligence Estimate on the threat of terrorism inside the U.S.Mr. Mueller said his greatest concern was the desire by al Qaeda to train operatives in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area, where Mr. Zazi allegedly received his training in explosives, and "insert such individuals in the United States."Write to Cam Simpson at [e-mail] and Evan Perez at [e-mail]