Terrorists have struck, or tried to strike, New York City several times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Here’s a look at some of the plots that succeeded and fizzled.
2003: Iyman Faris, a former Ohio truck driver, is arrested for a never-implemented plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge by severing its suspension cables. He later pleads guilty.
2004: Shahawar Matin Siraj, 24, is arrested on the eve of the Republican National Convention for hatching an unsuccessful plot to blow up the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan. Though there was no proof he ever obtained explosives, prosecutors said he had deadly intentions. He was sentenced to 30 years.
2005: An alleged plot to set off explosives in rail tunnels under the Hudson River never gets off the ground. Assem Hammoud is arrested a year later in Lebanon after authorities find maps and bombing plans on his computer. He serves three years in prison there but is never extradited to the U.S. Two accomplices are sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
2007: Four men are arrested in a failed plot to firebomb John F. Kennedy Airport by blowing up jet fuel supplies with the help of an al-Qaida explosives expert. Three were later sentenced to life in prison and a fourth receives a 15-year prison term.
2009: Najibullah Zazi tries to build a bomb to attack the subway system, but he learns before completing the device that he’s being watched by the FBI. He later pleads guilty. Several other men, including two high school classmates, are ultimately convicted or plead guilty in connection with the plot.
2009: Four men are convicted in a plot to bomb synagogues and shoot down military planes with missiles - a case that began after an FBI informant was assigned to infiltrate a mosque in Newburgh, north of New York City. The federal judge later said she was not proud of the government’s role in nurturing the plot. All four receive 25-year sentences.
2010: Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad lights the fuse of a crude bomb packed in a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder in Times Square on a busy Saturday night. It doesn’t detonate. A street vendor spots smoke coming from the SUV and alerts police. Shahzad is later sentenced to life in prison.
2011: Ahmed Ferhani is arrested in a plot to bomb New York City synagogues. An undercover investigator recorded Ferhani, an Algerian who came to the U.S. as a child, disparaging Jews and talking about attacking synagogues. While most terror cases are prosecuted federally, New York state handled this case with its own anti-terror law.
2012: A Bangladeshi man who came to the United States to wage jihad is arrested in an elaborate FBI sting attempting to blow up a car bomb outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan. The device was a fake, provided to him by FBI agents. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis pleaded guilty and is serving 30 years.
2016: A pressure cooker bomb explodes in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 30 people. A second bomb fails to detonate. A jury later convicts Ahmad Khan Rahimi of planting both devices. He still faces charges in New Jersey, where investigators said he detonated another pipe bomb at a Marine Corps charity race in Seaside Park.
2016: Police secretly make arrests in what they said was a plot by Islamic State group sympathizers to attack New York City concert venues, subway stations and Times square. One defendant, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, was arrested after traveling from Canada to New Jersey. Authorities announced the charges against El Bahnasawy in 2017. Two other suspects are arrested in Pakistan, and the Philippines.
2017: Sayfullo Saipov, of Paterson, New Jersey, is arrested after police say he drove a truck down a Manhattan bicycle path on Oct. 31, killing eight people. Saipov has been charged with providing material support to the Islamic State group, along with eight counts of murder and 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering.
2017: A Bangladeshi immigrant is arrested after authorities say he detonated a pipe bomb in a pedestrian tunnel connecting two of New York City’s busiest subway stations. He is the only one seriously injured. The case against him is pending.
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