Target practice, jehadi tapes: How six men trained for attack on US army base

It was a terror plot that hinged, in no small part, on a map snatched from a New Jersey pizzeria. The six Muslim men from New Jersey and Philadelphia, who were charged yesterday with plotting to attack Fort Dix with automatic

It was a terror plot that hinged, in no small part, on a map snatched from a New Jersey pizzeria. The six Muslim men from New Jersey and Philadelphia, who were charged yesterday with plotting to attack Fort Dix with automatic weapons and possibly even rocket-propelled grenades, vowed 8220;to kill as many soldiers as possible8221;. The plotters honed their shooting skills on semiautomatics at the firing range, though they also spent time conducting what the authorities called 8220;tactical training8221; by playing paintball in the woods.

They seemed to be prepared: with terror training tapes, computerised ballistic simulations, even what appeared to be a template of the last will and testament drawn up by two of the 9/11 hijackers. At the same time, one of the men worried aloud to a government informer: 8220;I just want to be safe, brother. I got five kids, so I don8217;t want to go down.8221;

The narrative of a foiled terror plot spelled out in the federal complaint issued on Tuesday by officials in New Jersey is full of tiny moments that are clearly chilling yet undeniably strange. The case came to light in January 2006 when the suspects 8212; four ethnic Albanians, three of them brothers; a Jordanian; and a Turk 8212; asked their local video store to transfer their own improvised jehadi videotape to DVD. A representative of the store called the authorities. The tape showed 10 men in their early 20s shooting assault weapons at a firing range 8220;in a militia-like style while calling for jihad,8221; according to the complaint.

Within weeks, federal agents managed to infiltrate the group with an informer who recorded them with apparent ease 8212; at home, in their cars and on the phone for more than a year. By March 2006, the informer had developed a relationship with one of them, Mohamad Shnewer. Another informer also penetrated the group later.

Shnewer even asked the first informer, who had served with the Egyptian army, to 8220;help lead the attack,8221; the complaint says. In mid-August, Shnewer and the first informer drove to Fort Dix to conduct surveillance. On the drive, Shnewer is recorded laying out the details of the plot: 8220;You hit four, five, or six Humvees and light the whole place up,8221; the complaint quotes him as saying, 8220;and retreat completely without any losses.8221; By this point, the plot had deepened with additional surveillance trips and attempts to acquire rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

Yet apprehensions had already appeared: When the informer asks one suspect, Shain Duka, if he is 8220;with them,8221; Duka says, 8220;God willing, we will see.8221; Duka8217;s brother Eljvir is quoted as saying they need a fatwa before they can attack. And another suspect, Serdar Tatar, asserts he is 8220;in8221; but cautions that they must take steps to ensure their families8217; safety.

There are also lingering suspicions. In November, trying to determine if the first informer is a plant, Tatar contacted the police in Philadelphia and said he had recently been approached by a man who 8220;pressured him to acquire maps of Fort Dix8221;. In a remarkable turn, he told the sergeant he was fearful that 8220;the incident was terrorist-related.8221;

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And yet the plot continued. 8220;I8217;m going to do it,8221; Tatar told the informer. 8220;Know why? It doesn8217;t matter to me whether I get locked up.8221;

In the next few months, the men talked guns and took shooting practice on state land in the Poconos, in Pennsylvania. Much of the group8217;s attention seems focussed on a map of Fort Dix taken from Tatar8217;s father8217;s pizzeria in Cookstown, NJ, near the Army base. There is paintball training in February and March 2007, with the third Duka brother, Dritan, saying, 8220;They use this in the US Army8221;.

At one point, the complaint says, the informer tells the group he knows a source who will sell them weapons but needs to remain anonymous. His list of guns includes an M-60 machine gun, a Sig Sauer pistol and a Smith 038; Wesson revolver.