A Saudi Arabian student attending South Plains College purchased chemicals to build a bomb and was researching targets in the United States - including former President George W. Bush's Dallas home - before his arrest Wednesday by federal authorities, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's office Thursday morning.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, was arrested late Wednesday by FBI agents on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was set to appear Friday morning in federal court in Lubbock.

He remained jailed at the Lubbock County Detention Center on Thursday for the U.S. Marshal Service.

Aldawsari received a visa to study in the United States in 2008 and entered the country in September of that year, according to court documents.

He completed a one-year English as a Second Language program before he enrolled at Texas Tech from August 2009 to January 2011 with a major in chemical engineering.

A former classmate and fellow Saudi described Aldawsari as a loner who did not interact with other Islamic students or Saudis.

"He was completely anonymous. The guy was, like, so to himself," said Moha Almodaifer, a fellow chemical engineering student. "He doesn't like to interact with people. He has his own life and stuff."

Aldawsari's studies were funded by a Saudi-based industrial corporation, according to court documents.

On Thursday he was still enrolled as a full-time student at South Plains College.

Aldawsari came to federal attention after a chemical supplier reported a suspicious attempted purchase of a concentrated phenol, a chemical with legitimate purposes that can be used to make explosives, in early February. Surveillance and searches on his apartment - in a building behind Cong. Randy Neugebauer's district office and shared with a U.S. Army recruiting office - revealed wiring, beakers, flasks, Hazmat suits and clocks, according to the affidavit in support of the warrant for Aldawsari's arrest.

Neighbors across the hall from his apartment recognized him from news reports, but Tech Food Science senior Sally Dierschke said they'd never really noticed him while he lived there.

"I'd just seen him in passing, but nothing ever spectacular or weird about him," Dierschke said.

"We've never met any of our neighbors," said Audra Kiesling, her roommate, a senior civil engineering major.

"There's never anyone in the hallways here," Dierschke added.

According to that document, which outlines the FBI's investigation into Aldawsari's activities, federal investigators also found several journal entries and email messages he sent to himself with instructions on how to build an improvised explosive device.

Additional emails with the subject lines such as "NICE TARGETS" he sent to himself described reservoirs and dams in Colorado and California, nuclear power plants, night clubs and the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, according to the court documents.

Emails also contained the names and home addresses of three former U.S. military members who had been stationed for a time at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, according to court documents.

The statement did not describe any targets in the Texas Panhandle.

"The FBI has assured us that there was no threat to any of our campus locations," South Plains College spokeswoman Myrna Whitehead said in a statement issued Thursday morning.

According to the FBI investigation, Aldawsari operated an Arabic-language blog under the username "fromfaraway90."

The blog was still up Thursday morning.

One entry from March of 2010, roughly translated to English, indicated he had been planning something subversive for quite a while.

"Give me martyrdom in your path and pleased me and jihad in your path alone," Aldawsari wrote.

According to court documents, Aldawsari wrote about his plan in a notebook as well.

"I excelled in my studies in high school in order to take advantage of an opportunity for a scholarship to America...And now after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad. I put my trust in God, for he is the best Master and Authority."

Almodaifer, a Tech chemical engineering student and former classmate of Alsdawsari, said Aldawsari avoided people and kept to himself.

He didn't attend Islamic activities, nor Saudi activities, Almodaifer said.

Almodaifer said he hadn't seen Aldawsari in a couple years, but that the FBI questioned him, other Saudis and former roommates Wednesday.

The FBI did not tell Almodaifer why they were questioning him, he said.

He was shocked to find out Aldawsari had been arrested on suspicion of terrorism.

"I really don't know what to say, I mean I wasn't expecting that or that he would go that far," Almodaifer said.