ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A 24-year-old U.S. student has been charged with plotting to kill President Bush in either a sniper attack or suicide bombing.
An indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., alleges Ahmed Omar Abu Ali of Falls Church, Va., planned to smuggle al-Qaida members into the United States through Mexico to carry out terrorist attacks, The Washington Post reported Friday. Arraignment on the charges was set for next Wednesday.
The suspect was charged in February with trying to establish a terror cell in the United States, but the latest indictment covers eight additional counts, including a plot against Bush with an attack that involved several snipers or a suicide bomber.
Authorities said the assassination plot, however, did not advance past a talking stage, the newspaper said. Still, if convicted of plotting to kill the president, Abu Ali could be sentenced to life in prison.
Abu Ali was arrested in June 2003 while studying in Saudi Arabia, the Post said. His attorney says Abu Ali was tortured while in Saudi custody.
