A Pakistani citizen living in Canada was arrested on Wednesday and charged with planning attack in New York in support of the “Islamic State”, reported the Reuters agency, quoted by BTA, citing the US Department of Justice.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, is accused of planning a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn around October 7, the one-year anniversary of the attack by the Palestinian group “Hamas” against Israel.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Kahn aimed to kill “as many Jews as possible”.
The Pakistani tried to leave Canada for the United States, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the attack, the indictment states.
Police in Canada said Friday that Kahn was arrested Wednesday in Ormstown, Quebec, south of Montreal. He will be arraigned in Montreal on Sept. 13.
The Pakistani man told two undercover police officers that his plans included creating a cell of supporters of the “Islamic State” to carry out the attack. He instructed them to obtain automatic rifles, ammunition and other materials and had marked possible locations for the attack.
His target was New York because it had “the largest Jewish population in America”, prosecutors said.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland thanked his Canadian partners for the response. “The Jewish community, like all other communities in this country, should not fear being the target of a hate-fueled terrorist attack,” Garland said in a statement.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan is threatened with a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, notes Reuters.
On October 7, it will be one year since the attack by “Hamas” against Israel, in which 1,200 people died. The attack triggered an Israeli military offensive that has so far killed more than 40,000 people, according to Reuters.