Al-Shabaab member charged with planning 9/11-style attack on US

A Kenyan member of the al-Shabaab militant group who received pilot training in the Philippines has been charged with terrorism offenses, including conspiring to hijack aircraft for a 9/11-style attack in the United States.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 30, was arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 and was brought to the United States on Tuesday to face six counts of terrorism-related offenses.

At a hearing held via electronic link on Wednesday morning, Abdullah told a US magistrate judge he was pleading not guilty to all of the charges. His defense lawyer agreed with the judge that Abdullah should remain in custody pending a hearing in January.

Audrey Strauss, the acting Manhattan US attorney, said Abdullah obtained pilot training in the Philippines as part of an al-Shabaab plot “in preparation for seeking to hijack a commercial aircraft and crash it into a building in the United States”.

“This chilling callback to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al-Shabaab remain committed to killing US citizens and attacking the United States,” Strauss said.

“Abdullah’s plot was detected before he could achieve his deadly aspirations, and now he faces federal terrorism charges in a US court,” she added.

According to the indictment, Abdullah attended flight school in the Philippines between 2017 and 2019 and eventually obtained his pilot’s license.

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While undergoing flight training, he allegedly researched how to hijack a commercial airlines flight, including how to breach a locked cockpit door from the cabin, prosecutors said. He also researched information about the tallest building in an unidentified US city and how to obtain a U.S. visa.

Abdullah is charged with conspiring to murder US nationals, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy and other offenses. He could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The Somalia-based al-Shabaab was designated a terrorist movement by the United States in 2008.

Somalia plunged into chaos after the 1991 overthrow of then president Siad Barre, leading to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of al-Shabaab which once controlled large parts of the country and Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab was driven out of the capital in 2011, but its militants continue to wage war against the government, carrying out regular attacks.