Airport driver charged with US bomb plot

An airport shuttle driver has been charged with conspiring to launch a bomb attack in the US. A New York grand jury charged Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi, 24, with plotting with unidentified others since August 2008 to "use one or more weapons of mass destruction", according to an indictment unsealed yesterday.

US authorities said Mr Zazi admitted to the FBI that he took a bomb-making course at an al-Qa'ida training camp in Pakistan. "We are investigating a wide range of leads related to this alleged conspiracy, and we will continue to work around the clock to ensure that anyone involved is brought to justice," Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Authorities have said they had no information on the timing, location or target. But Mr Holder said yesterday: "We believe any imminent threat has been disrupted."

Mr Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, and Ahmad Wais Afzali, a New York imam, have been charged with lying to authorities. All three Afghan-born men have said they are innocent.

Mr Zazi, a legal permanent US resident, had been under surveillance for some time when the investigation was made public on 14 September as law enforcement units staged raids in Queens. Federal authorities say they acted after the imam tipped off Mr Zazi that he was being watched.

The government said that during the past three months Mr Zazi and unnamed associates had bought "unusually large quantities" of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products that could be used to make bombs and that he had bomb-making notes on his laptop.