Feds say they thwarted NYC plot targeting concert venues

NEW YORK — Three men sought to carry out terrorist attacks last year in New York City in the name of the Islamic State group, setting their sights on concert venues, subway stations and Times Square before U.S. agents thwarted the plot, authorities said Friday.

One of the men, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, bought bomb-making materials but was arrested after traveling from Canada to New Jersey in May 2016 to stage the attacks, authorities said. His arrest came after an investigation using an undercover FBI agent posing as an Islamic extremist.

According to criminal complaints, El Bahnasawy sent the undercover agent an image of Times Square with a smartphone message saying, “We seriously need to car bomb times square. Look at these crowds of people!”

In another, El Bahnasawy expressed a desire 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.

The complaints unsealed Friday did not name the venues.

The 19-year-old El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty in October 2016, but the case was sealed while the investigation continued.

A U.S. citizen, 19-yearold Talha Haroon, was arrested in Pakistan in 2016. Russell Salic, 37, was arrested in the Philippines last April.

It’s not clear if they have attorneys.

Prosecutors announced the case against the men as investigators continue to explore what sparked a 64-year-old retired accountant to open fire on a crowd at an outdoor concert on the Vegas Strip. The Islamic State has claimed that attack, though authorities have said repeatedly they have found no evidence to support the terror group’s assertion.