Plots by three alleged Islamic State supporters to carry out terrorist attacks around New York City, including at concert venues, subway stations and Times Square, were foiled in the summer of 2016, a US court has heard.

Terrorism charges against the three men accused of plotting the attacks were unsealed by a federal court in the city on Friday.

The plots were thwarted by an undercover FBI agent who was posing as an Islamist extremist and communicating with the trio via a messenger app.

One of the defendants, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, was arrested after travelling from Canada to New Jersey in May 2016 to carry out the attacks, authorities said.

According to criminal complaints, Bahnasawy, 19, told the undercover agent that “[t]hese Americans need an attack”, and he wanted to “create the next 9/11”. He sent the agent an image of Times Square and said: “We seriously need to car bomb times square. Look at these crowds of people!”

In another message, he said he wanted to “shoot up concerts cuz they kill a lot people … We just walk in with guns in our hands. That’s how Paris guys did it,” the papers said in an apparent reference to the 2015 attack on the Bataclan concert hall in the French capital that killed 89 people.

Bahnasawy pleaded guilty in October 2016, but the case was sealed while the investigation continued. His attorney, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment on Friday.



The other men are Talha Haroon, who was arrested in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, who was arrested in the Philippines, where he is a citizen. Both are awaiting extradition to the US.



Haroon, who was introduced to the agent by Bahnasawy, was planning to travel to the US to allegedly help him with the attacks.

In messages, he told the agent that the subway was a perfect target; that they should shoot as many passengers on the train as possible, including women and children; and that “when we run out of bullets we let the vests go off”.

Salic, who is a doctor and is accused of sending money to help fund the planned attacks, was also arrested in the Philippines for his alleged involvement in kidnappings and beheadings blamed on pro-Isis militants, a Philippine official said.

The chief state counsel, Ricardo Paras, told the Associated Press that a Manila court was considering an extradition request from the US government. Even if the court approves the request, the Department of Justice in Manila needs to decide whether Salic will face charges in the Philippines first or be allowed to be flown to the US to answer the terrorism financing allegations there, Paras said.

“The US can also request for a temporary surrender of Salic to its custody, but it’s in our options to require him to face criminal complaints here first,” Paras said.

A US Department of Justice statement said: “Communicating through internet messaging applications, these three men allegedly plotted to conduct bombings and shootings in heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in 2016, all in the name of Isis.”

The men face possible terms of life in prison on charges including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

