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Carolina Jihad Suspect Talked of Domestic AttacksBy The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)
RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina man accused of conspiring to commit terrorist acts abroad grew so frustrated at his inability to carry out his plans that he vented about committing attacks in America, an FBI agent testified Tuesday. Agent Michael Sutton testified during a detention hearing for Daniel Patrick Boyd, Boyd's sons Zakariya and Dylan, and co-defendants Hysen Sherifi, Ziyad Yaghi, Anes Subasic and Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan. The men were arrested last week and charged in a conspiracy to commit terrorist acts abroad. If convicted, each could be sentenced to life in prison. On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Webb ordered the defendants held without bond pending their trial. According to the indictment, Boyd and his son Zakariya, along with Yaghi and Hassan, traveled to Israel in June 2007. The men wanted to die as shahid "that is, as martyrs in furtherance of violent jihad," the indictment alleges. But they came back about a month later, unsuccessful in their attempt to carry out jihad. A year earlier, the indictment alleges, Boyd tried to get into Gaza "in order to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violent jihad was a personal obligation on the part of every good Muslim." During his testimony, Sutton cited comments Boyd made that were recorded by the government or reported by witnesses. "If I don't leave this country soon," Sutton quoted Boyd saying in one, "I am going to make jihad right here in America." In another conversation outside a convenience store, Boyd noticed a group of Humvees. "We should take them out right now," Boyd said. He made a similar comment about a North Carolina state helicopter he saw flying over head, Sutton said a witness told him. The indictment makes no allegations about any domestic terrorist plot by the defendants. They did buy large amounts of rifles and ammunition and conducted training on private property in Caswell County, N.C. this past June and July. They also found a fatwa, or religious edict, in Boyd's house saying Muslims have "an individual duty to kill Americans and their allies." Boyd often made references to jihad, in one recording saying "Allah knows I love jihad." Read the rest of our live coverage from Raleigh here.
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