Oregon Christmas tree lighting ceremony target of Muslim terrorist

Mohamed Osman MOHAMUD, 19, was arrested by federal authorities last evening after he dialed a number on a cellular phone that was supposed to detonate a large bomb hidden in a van parked at a crowded annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. His intent was to kill as many people attending the ceremony as possible. Many of the attendees were young children and their families, packed into Pioneer Courthouse Square. The “bomb,” however, did not detonate as the ingredients were inert, substituted for the real thing after the FBI learned of MOHAMUD’S murderous intentions. They successfully infiltrated the plot and derailed his plans well before the bomb could be constructed of real explosives.

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As MOHAMUD dialed the telephone number at 5:40 p.m. Pacific time that would have killed hundreds or perhaps thousands of spectators at the Christmas tree ceremony, the FBI were lying in wait. When the “explosive” laden van failed to detonate, agents swooped in on MOHAMUD, when he began shouting “Allahu Akbar!” and struggled to get away from arresting officers. The plan, according to court documents, was for MOHAMUD to flee the U.S. following the detonation of the bomb. Mohamed Osman MOHAMUD, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia and resident of Corvallis, Oregon, began his quest for Islamic jihad when he was 15. Federal authorities have been closely monitoring his activities when he first appeared on their radar screen several months ago. Since the summer of 2009, MOHAMUD had been in email contact with a suspected terrorist in Pakistan. After discussing the possibility of the Somalia terrorist traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad, an unnamed accomplice gave MOHAMUD contact details of a terrorist cell overseas to facilitate his murderous plot. MOHAMUD made numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact his accomplice. Struck by MOHAMUD’s persistence and increasingly violent jihad writings and intent, the FBI substituted an undercover agent last June in place of the U.S. contact who was to assist the Muslim terrorist. In July, MOHAMUD met with his accomplice, who was actually the FBI undercover agent, in Portland. He told the agent that he had written articles that were published in “Jihad Recollections,” an Internet publication that promotes violence against all non-Muslims. He stated that he wanted to conduct a holy war against “infidels” since the age of 15, and selected the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square as his target of choice. Despite several attempts by the FBI undercover operative to discourage MOHAMUD, noting that many innocent children would likely be killed, he insisted on pressing forward. According to court documents, MOHAMUD said that he was looking for targeting a “huge mass that will … be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays. RELATED: Portland Oregon: A Sleepy City or City of Sleepers From June 2005: Portland achieved the distinction to be the first municipality in the nation to pull out of the Justice Department’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Some called it a “rejection of President Bush’s politics of fear,”ˇ while more rational people have called it just plain stupid.