An al Qaeda terror plotter was busted by the FBI over plans to detonate a van bomb at Cleveland’s July 4 parade on Wednesday, it is claimed.

The Bureau said Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts was busted after disturbing Facebook posts saw him call on fellow Muslims to ‘start training like this every day…know how to shoot guns…throw hand grenades…hand to hand combat.

Pitts, also known as Abdur Raheem Rafeeq began talking to an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow al Qaeda terror attack.

Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts planned to launch a van bomb attack on a July 4 parade in Cleveland, the FBI said Monday (Picture: FBI/ABC)

Pitts, who is a US citizen, is said to have told the undercover agent last week: ‘I did tell myself that their holiday is coming…what would hit them in the core?




‘Blow up, have a bomb. Blow up at the fourth of July parade.’

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He is said to have conducted reconnaissance in the Ohio city, and spoken of his desire to wipe the Catholic St John’s Cathedral from the map, as well as killing the children of military families using shrapnel-packed car bombs.

Pitts was arrested and charged with ‘attempting to provide material support for a designated foreign terrorist organization’ after a final meeting with the FBI mole Sunday, according to a Bureau spokesman.

During that chat, he is said to have pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and spoken of his desire to particpate in a terror attack targeting military members and their families.

Pitts’ plot was revealed at an FBI press conference Monday (Picture: ABC)

He also spoke of his desire to target a city park, the US coastguard, and spoken of his willingness to chop off heads and hands.

The Bureau did not say what, if any, access Pitts had to the materials he would have needed to plot his attack.

Chillingly, Pitts, who has previous convictions for felonious assault, domestic violence, aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon is said to have bragged that he would have ‘No regrets’ about the bloodshed such an attack would inflict.

He is also said to have spoken of a plot to attack Philadelphia at a later date, and faces 20 years in jail if convicted.

The attack was set to take place in Downtown Cleveland during Wednesday’s Independence Day celebrations (Picture GroupOn)