Tarek Mehanna, 27, was arrested in Sudbury (a suburb of Boston), Massachusetts on federal terrorism-related charges on suspicion of planning attacks inside and outside the United States.

He was earlier arrested in November 2008 on suspicion of lying to authorities about the whereabouts of a man who trained with al-Qaida members with the goal of overthrowing the Somali government.

"Mehanna and the co-conspirators had multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in a shopping mall, and that the conversations went so far as to discuss the logistics of a mall attack, including coordination, weapons needed and the possibility of attacking emergency responders," the Justice Department said.

 

Mehanna was arrested at his home on Wednesday morning.

 

Prosecutors allege that from 2001 to 2008 Mehanna conspired with a man named Ahmad Abousamra and others in an attempt to kill, kidnap or injure people in the United States.

 

The charges accuse Mehanna and co-conspirators of talking about their desire to participate in Islamist holy war and of their desire to die on the battlefield.

 

The case comes less than a month after an Afghan-born man, Najibullah Zazi, was accused of plotting a bomb attack against the United States.

 

Authorities say Zazi took a bomb-making course at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, had bomb-making notes on his laptop computer and acquired bomb-making materials similar to those used in the 2005 London attacks, buying acetone and hydrogen peroxide at beauty supply stores.

Source: www.reuters.com