Pakistani accused in terror attack freed on bail (AP)

By BABAR DOGAR and ASHRAF KHAN, Associated Press Babar Dogar And Ashraf Khan, Associated Press – Thu Jul 14, 10:38 am ET

LAHORE, Pakistan – An Islamist militant accused in dozens of killings and a 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team was freed on bail Thursday after 14 years in custody because the Supreme Court decided there was not enough evidence to keep holding him, his lawyer said.

The release of Malik Ishaq, a leader of the banned Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, underscores the difficulty Pakistani prosecutors have convicting suspects in a justice system that lacks resources, is plagued by corruption and is rife with tales of witness intimidation.

Members of extremist groups have routinely escaped justice in Pakistan because of the legal system's perceived ineptitude.

Also Thursday, Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, reeled from fresh political violence that killed at least 14 people and added to the nation's instability.

Ishaq was arrested in 1997, and has been accused of a slew of crimes, including attacks on minority Shiite Muslims. In 2009, he also was blamed for orchestrating the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Six security officers and a driver died in that assault.

Although he's been implicated in some 44 cases, he was convicted in just two minor ones, and has already served the time for those, said his lawyer, Qazi Misbah. But prosecutors have tried to keep Ishaq behind bars, even as they've struggled to prove other cases and persuade frightened witnesses to testify.

The Supreme Court on Monday decided that there was not enough evidence to prevent Ishaq from being granted bail. After posting bonds worth $11,600 (1 million rupees), Ishaq walked free Thursday, Misbah said. TV footage showed hundreds of Ishaq's supporters greeting him as he left the jail in Kot Lakhpat, a town on the outskirts of Lahore.

Ishaq told Pakistan's private Geo TV channel that he had been falsely accused and that he would do whatever possible to ensure peace in Pakistan.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the affiliated Sipah-e-Sahaba are among the most notorious extremist groups in Pakistan. Jhangvi, in particular, is suspected of ties to al-Qaida and roles in a variety of terrorist attacks, including the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

Criminal conviction rates hover between 5 and 10 percent in Pakistan, according to a report by the International Crisis Group, a respected think tank. Terrorism convictions are rare, even in major cases, and convictions in lower courts are frequently overturned by appeals courts. Part of the problem is that police are ill-trained in the art of gathering evidence, while witnesses are often afraid to testify.

Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment in the Ishaq case Thursday.

In Karachi, meanwhile, residents were dealing with another round of violence that has brought the death toll in two weeks to more than 100.

Late Wednesday, Zulfiqar Mirza, a senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, called Altaf Hussain, chief of the city's powerful Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a murderer and an extortionist. He also maligned the city's Urdu-speaking community that makes up the MQM party's main base.

Karachi echoed with gunfire soon after a local TV channel aired Mirza's comments. Angry mobs also torched more than a dozen vehicles. Fourteen people were killed in the fighting, said Manzoor Wasan, home minister in Sindh province, where Karachi is the capital.

Karachi has a long history of political, ethnic and sectarian violence, and much of the fighting is blamed on gangs allegedly affiliated with political parties. Last week, dozens were killed in violence believed to be linked to the MQM's decision to leave the federal ruling coalition and join the opposition.

Mirza apologized for his comments Thursday, calling members of the Urdu-speaking community his "brothers." His mea culpa came as thousands of people rallied in the center of the city to condemn him and burn his effigies.

Hussain, who lives in self-imposed exile in London, appealed to his supporters to call off protests, which seemed to help calm the situation by Thursday evening.

A large number of MQM's supporters are Urdu-speaking descendants of people who came to Karachi from India soon after the birth of Pakistan in 1947. The party dominates politics in urban areas of Sindh, including Karachi, but over time it has seen challenges to its power from the People's Party and the Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party.

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Khan reported from Karachi.

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Accused homegrown extremist indicted (AP)

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a man in a terrorism case for allegedly using the Internet to promote violence against Americans.

A moderator of a popular, internationally known Islamic extremist web forum, 22-year-old Emerson Winfield Begolly was accused of posting notes encouraging attacks in the U.S. targeting public buildings and military facilities, transportation systems, cell phone towers and water plants.

The case underscores the threat posed by homegrown extremists seeking to incite violence using the Internet, said Lisa Monaco, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for national security.

Begolly was under investigation early this year when he allegedly bit two FBI agents who approached him and Begolly allegedly tried to grab a loaded 9 mm pistol in his jacket. He was indicted for allegedly assaulting federal agents and firearms-related charges and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of those charges.

In January, an FBI agent in Pittsburgh testified in court that Begolly had contact with a man who has pleaded guilty to threatening the creators of the animated "South Park" TV show for perceived insults to the prophet Muhammad.

According to the latest indictment, Begolly posted a comment online that praised the shootings at the Pentagon and the Marine Corps Museum in October 2010.

The indictment also alleged that Begolly posted links to a 101-page document on how to set up a laboratory and manufacture explosives.

Begolly, who is from New Bethlehem, Pa., was indicted in Alexandria, Va. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and 20 years in prison if convicted of distributing information about explosives and weapons of mass destruction.

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Mich. man accused of seeking to set bomb in Israel (AP)

DETROIT – A Michigan man on the FBI's most wanted list of terror suspects is accused of using a fake passport in an attempt to get into Israel and conduct a bombing on behalf of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Detroit.

Faouzi Ayoub, 44, faces one count of passport fraud, according to the August 2009 indictment that was only unsealed in U.S. District Court in Detroit within the past week.

Federal prosecutors accuse the Lebanese-born Ayoub, whose last known U.S. residence was in southeast Michigan, of using a passport under the name of Frank Mariano Boschi to enter Israel in October 2000. The indictment does not indicate whether authorities believe Ayoub participated in any bombing.

The FBI's office in Detroit could not discuss the case Wednesday, say where Ayoub was believed to be now or explain why the indictment was unsealed, spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said. But she noted that he should be considered armed and dangerous and that anyone with information about him should contact their local FBI office, or nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

"Future indictments may be handed down as various investigations proceed in connection to other terrorist incidents," according to a posting about Ayoub and others on the FBI's website.

The U.S. government classifies Hezbollah, which dominates the Lebanese government coalition, as a terrorist group. Hezbollah fought a devastating, 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead. Lebanon and Israel technically remain at war.

It was not clear how long Ayoub's name had been on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists, at the top of which is Egyptian Islamic Jihad founder Ayman Al-Zawahiri, indicted for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. The attacks killed 224 people.

Al-Zawahiri's group later merged with al Qaeda.

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Hearing for 2 man accused of Seattle terror plot (AP)

SEATTLE – Two men accused of plotting to attack a Seattle military recruiting station are scheduled for detention hearings Wednesday.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., each face up to life in prison.

The two were arrested June 22 after an anti-terror investigation with the help of an informant. They're accused of planning to use machine guns and grenades in an attempt to kill as many military people as possible at a center that processes military recruits.

The 33-year-old Abdul-Latif is a Seattle-area resident. The 32-year-old Mujahidh is a former Seattle resident who traveled from Los Angeles.

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Accused Seattle attackers wanted media attention (AP)

SEATTLE – Two ex-convicts planned an attack on a Seattle military recruiting station hoping that it would get attention from the media, authorities say, and even imagined the headlines: "Three Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building, Seattle, Washington, And Gun Down Everybody."

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, 33, of Seattle, was arrested Wednesday when he and another man showed up at a warehouse garage to pick up machine guns they planned to use in the attack, authorities said Thursday. The weapons had been rendered inoperable by federal agents and posed no risk to the public.

Authorities learned of the plot this month when a third person recruited to participate alerted Seattle police, according to court documents. Agents then set up the sting through the confidential informant, who had known Abdul-Latif for years.

Abdul-Latif had little knowledge of weapons, but served briefly in the Navy in the mid-1990s and was familiar with recruiting stations like the one they targeted, a criminal complaint said. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle said he and his alleged accomplice, Walli Mujahidh, planned to attack Joint Base Lewis-McChord but later changed targets.

"If we can get control of the building and we can hold it for a while, then we'll get the local news down there, the media down there, you know what I'm saying," Abdul-Latif was quoted in a court document as saying. "It's a confined space, not a lot of people carrying weapons, and we'd have an advantage."

Mujahidh pictured the headline — "Three Muslim Males Walk Into MEPS Building, Seattle, Washington, And Gun Down Everybody" — according to the court document. Authorities said the two planned to use machine guns and grenades in the attack. In audio and video recordings, they discussed the plot, including strategies to time their attack on military recruits, such as by tossing grenades in the cafeteria, the complaint said.

The attack would not target "anybody innocent — that means old people, women out of uniform, any children," Abdul-Latif allegedly said. "Just people who wear the green for the kaffir army, that's who we're going after."

Abdul-Latif was recorded in conversations with the informant where he spoke admiringly of the 2009 massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, that claimed 13 lives. He referred to war crimes charges against five soldiers accused of killing Afghan civilians for sport last year, saying "he was not comfortable with letting the legal system deal with these matters," according to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.

Mujahidh confessed after the arrest, saying the attack was aimed at preventing the U.S. military "from going to Islamic lands and killing Muslims," court documents said. He is also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., 32, of Los Angeles.

Court-appointed lawyers for the men declined to comment.

The arrests and news of the plot come after a May 31 assessment from the Homeland Security Department that said coordinated terrorist attacks against military recruiting and National Guard facilities were unlikely. But it warned that lone offenders or groups would try to launch attacks against those facilities.

Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh face federal charges of conspiracy to murder officers and employees of the United States, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and possession of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence. Abdul-Latif was also charged with two counts of illegal possession of firearms.

"The complaint alleges these men intended to carry out a deadly attack against our military where they should be most safe, here at home," U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan, of Seattle, said in a statement. "This is a sobering reminder of our need to be vigilant."

Abdul-Latif was previously convicted for robbing a Bremerton, Wash., convenience store and for custodial assault, as well as for obstructing a law enforcement officer, assault and theft. When he faced the robbery charge in 2002, he was found to have some "issues" during a psychological evaluation but allowed to stand trial, FBI Special Agent Albert C. Kelly III wrote in the complaint.

A copy of the evaluation showed that Abdul-Latif believed he suffered from depression and abandonment issues, because his father served time in prison in California and he had not seen his mother in a long time. He also said he "huffed" gasoline and smoked marijuana to get high, and that he tried to kill himself in 2001 by deliberately overdosing on seizure medication.

He served prison time on the robbery charge from January 2002 until July 2004. State Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis said "nothing in Davis' records that indicates that he converted to Islam while he was in prison."

A sign on the door of Abdul-Latif's apartment read in part: "In the Name of Allah we enter, in the name of Allah we leave, and upon our Lord we depend."

It wasn't immediately clear how the suspects became acquainted, though Mujahidh formerly lived in Seattle. He was convicted in municipal court of violating a domestic violence protection order stemming from a 2007 incident.

Abdul-Latif filed for bankruptcy last month, reporting that his monthly income from his janitorial business was nullified by its operating expenses. Steve Dashiak, his bankruptcy attorney, told The Associated Press he was stunned by the charges.

"I sensed no ill will from him whatsoever," Dashiak said. "He seemed like a guy just trying to make it, having a rough time because business wasn't going very well. To say that I didn't see this coming would be an understatement."

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Associated Press counterterrorism reporter Eileen Sullivan contributed from Washington, D.C., writer Mike Baker contributed from Olympia, Wash., and writer Manuel Valdes contributed from Seattle.

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Johnson can be reached at http://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

Baker can be reached at http://twitter.com/MikeBakerAP

Valdes can be reached at http://twitter.com/manevaldes

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