MANHATTAN — Accused terrorist Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty Monday, admitting he and three former high school classmates planned to carry out "martyrdom operations" in the city's subway system.
"To me it meant that I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," he said in court, according to the New York Post
The feds claim Zazi drove to New York from Denver last September with a carload of chemicals and detonators. They were stopped on the George Washington Bridge by investigators who followed him from Denver.
He and his co-conspirators are scheduled to appear in federal court in Brooklyn for sentencing on Feb. 25.
Zazi faces life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to three charges: conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers abroad, and giving support to Al Qaeda, according to the Post.
One of the people familiar with the Zazi case told the Associated Press that Zazi decided to offer the information after being warned that his mother could face criminal immigration charges.
His father has been indicted for conspiring to get rid of his bomb-making materials and his mother faces possible deportation, the sources said.
Last week his father, Mohammed Walis Zazi, was released from jail on a relatively low $50,000 bail.
He admitted to the feds he receiving training at an Al Qaeda terror camp in the summer of 2008 so he could join the Taliban and fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
