By DEVLIN BARRETT
A suspected al Qaeda fighter who spent years in Libyan custody before being released in 2011 has been brought to the U.S. to face charges he plotted to attack American personnel in Afghanistan and Africa, officials said Wednesday.
Ibrahim Harun, 43 years old, was indicted in federal court in New York City, accused of conspiring to murder U.S. troops in Afghanistan and plotting to bomb U.S. diplomatic facilities in Nigeria. A lawyer for Mr. Harun declined to comment. He is expected to make a court appearance on Friday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Mr. Harun, who was born in Saudi Arabia and now says he is a citizen of Niger, is believed to have a long history of working for al Qaeda. He allegedly traveled to Afghanistan just before the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., received training from al Qaeda and fought against U.S. and coalition forces as part of a group based in Pakistan.
U.S. officials say he traveled to Africa in 2003 with plans to attack U.S. facilities in Nigeria. When an alleged co-conspirator was arrested, Mr. Harun traveled to Libya, where he was arrested in 2005. The Libyan government released him in 2011, and he was arrested by Italian authorities on a refugee ship. He was extradited from Italy to the U.S. in October 2012, according to U.S. authorities.
U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch called Mr. Harun "a prototype al Qaeda operative, trained by al Qaeda in terrorist tradecraft, deployed to fight American servicemen, and dispatched to commit terrorist attacks throughout the world."
George Venizelos, the head of the New York FBI office, said Mr. Harun "not only intended to, but did commit acts of terrorism against Americans.''
The case marks the second time in recent days the government has announced plans to put a significant terror suspect on trial in federal court in New York.
Charges were announced earlier this month against Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden's and alleged former spokesman for al Qaeda.
Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com
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