Chicago teen charged in attempted bombing

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CHICAGO, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A Chicago-area teenager accused of plotting jihad by blowing up a bar with a car bomb was ordered held Monday until another hearing in federal court.

The attorney for Adel Daoud, 18, of Hillside, Ill., told the court during the brief hearing he needed more time to challenge the arrest and detention of his "immature 18-year-old" client, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Daoud, a U.S. citizen, will stay behind bars at least until his next appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys Thursday afternoon.

Daoud appeared in court in leg shackles and an orange jumpsuit. He said little other than he had a hard time seeing the judge without his glasses, which he apparently had lost while in custody, the newspaper said.

Daoud was arrested by the FBI Friday night after he tried unsuccessfully to detonate a device outside a downtown bar. The bomb was a fake constructed by FBI technicians, the Chicago Tribune reported.

An FBI complaint stated Daoud chose the bar because it served alcohol, which is prohibited in Islam, and because many people would be there.

Agents said they had targeted Daoud in an undercover investigation for months.

The suspect worships at the Islamic Foundation mosque in Villa Park but became radicalized on the Internet, said Arshad Zaheer, the mosque's vice chairman.

Two undercover FBI agents had been meeting with Daoud since May, and he allegedly gave one of them a handwritten list of 29 potential targets in the Chicago area.

A worshiper at the mosque doubted the teen's ability to build the bomb on his own. "He was retarded. I'm not a doctor, but I'd bet my life that he couldn't," said Junaid Ahmed.

Daoud's attorney, Thomas Durkin, contended in court his client was being held in solitary confinement solely because of his alleged radical Islamic views. Durkin said he intends to challenge whether authorities had probable cause to detain the youth.

Durkin said he also was concerned that the FBI apparently invented an overseas imam to give his blessing to the bomb plot when Daoud's own imam, a second imam and Daoud's father had all advised him against violent jihad.

"It's suspicious," he said. "I have a lot of questions."