Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001 US authorities have uncovered several attempts to cause death and destruction on American soil. Here is a timeline of some of the major plots.
September 11 2001:
Terrorists hijack four commercial airliners taking off from various US airports in a co-ordinated suicide attack orchestrated by al-Qaeda. Two of the planes crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York causing them to collapse. A third crashes into the Pentagon, in Washington DC, and the fourth crashes in Pennsylvania. Approximately 3,000 people are thought to have died.
December 2001:
Richard Reid, a British citizen, hides explosives inside his shoes aboard a flight from Paris to Miami and attempts to set them off. He is apprehended and the flight diverts to Boston's Logan Airport. Reid is found guilty of terrorism offences in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison.
May 2007:
Six men are arrested in a plot to attack Fort Dix – a US Army base in New Jersey. The plan included attacking soldiers with grenades and assault rifles.
November 2009:
Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army major serving as a psychiatrist, shoots dead 13 people at Fort Hood – America's biggest military base. Police shoot and wound Hasan during his rampage at the Texas base. He is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.
December 2009:
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian with an American visa, attempts to blow up a jet over Detroit on Christmas Day using explosives hidden in his underwear. He is subsequently charged with six terrorism offences and remains in US custody.
May 2010:
Police foil attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square. A sports utility vehicle laden with three propane tanks, dozens of firecrackers, two tanks of gasoline and fertiliser, was parked at the corner or West 45th Street and Broadway, an area full of pedestrians.
October 2012:
FBI agents arrest a Bangladeshi man after he attempted to detonate a 1,000lb car bomb outside the Federal Reserve . Agents went undercover to set up the sting, ensuring that the bomb was only a dummy device so the public was never in danger. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested soon after.
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