MAN CHARGED WITH MARKING D.C. ATTACK TARGETS FOR ISIL
ALEXANDRIA, VA. A Virginia man has been charged with attempting to assist ISIL by photographing targets in the Washington, D.C., area for what he thought would be a video encouraging lone-wolf terrorist attacks in the nation’s capital.
Haris Qamar, 25, was arrested Friday morning. He is the second person this week to be charged in Alexandria with attempting to support ISIL.
Qamar came to authorities’ attention through Twitter posts about supporting terrorist attacks that appeared under variations of the handle “newerajihadi,” court documents show.
According to an affidavit, the FBI set up a sting operation in which Qamar worked with an informant last month to film landmarks, including the Pentagon, that could be targeted. The informant recorded Qamar saying “bye-bye DC” as he filmed the Pentagon.
Qamar told the informant that filming and photographing targets that ISIL could use in a video to urge lone-wolf attacks made him a true supporter of the group and more than just a “fanboy.”
Qamar is a U.S. citizen born in Brooklyn, according to the affidavit.