UK intelligence helped foil NY subway plot five days before due date

NEW YORK - British intelligence helped foil an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the New York subway just five days before it was due to be carried out.

According to The Telegraph, the suicide attack, planned to mark last year’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks was to be the biggest plot in the US since 2001.

The paper quoted security sources as saying that three suicide bombers were planning to attack the underground with coordinated explosions planned to emulate those on London five years back, and that the plan was foiled when one of the men emailed an al-Qaeda fixer in Pakistan to ask for advice on mixing chemicals.

Earlier reports had suggested that the men were under surveillance by the FBI for some time before their planned attacks but sources now say the plot came close to success.

The fixer, who used the names Sohaib, Ahmad and Zahid and currently held in custody in Pakistan, was also reportedly involved in an al-Qaeda plot to blow up shopping centres in Manchester last Easter, which led to the arrest of 12 Pakistani students.

The revelations came as Abid Naseer, a suspect in the case, faces an extradition hearing in London. (ANI)