TA-INDIVIDUALS: British Arrests of 3 Suspected Terrorists Linked to Possible Attacks on Washington

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Investigators in the United States and Britain are urgently investigating information suggesting that a group of terrorism suspects recently arrested in the London area may have been plotting to blow up Washington landmarks using homemade bombs. Counterterrorism officials, who asked to remain anonymous because the investigation was continuing, said the suspects’ possible targets included the White House and the U.S. Capitol complex.


Investigators appear to be uncertain about how far the plotting against Washington targets had advanced before the arrests. While British officials call the investigation active and urgent, U.S. officials, while acknowledging they were aware of the possible threats against the White House and Capitol Hill, said they were not sure whether the targets were part of an imminent plot or was more bravado among Islamic militants. Officials in both countries are concerned, however, that the suspects could be part of a terror network stretching from the United States to Britain to Bosnia.


British authorities are treating the suspects as serious conspirators. According to an official charging document issued on Friday by Scotland Yard, police last month seized a computer hard drive belonging to Younis Tsouli, 22, containing pictures of “a number of places in Washington D.C. including a CRBN vehicle in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that your possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.” Tsouli is also charged with possessing other computerized slides demonstrating how to make a car bomb. (CBRN stands for chemical, radiological, biological or nuclear. The document may have be referring to an anti-WMD vehicle deployed by law enforcement.)




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