US captive charged with trying to kill Musharraf
16 February, 2012
MIAMI: US prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals filed charges on Tuesday against a Pakistani who grew up outside Baltimore, alleging he plotted with al Qaeda to attack US targets and assassinate former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf.
The charges against defendant Majid Khan allege that in 2002, he donned an explosives vest and sat in a mosque in Karachi, where Musharraf was expected. He planned to blow himself up and kill Musharraf, but the plot was foiled when the president failed to show up, the charges said.
Prosecutors allege Khan, 31, was an al Qaeda operative who reported directly to Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the self-described mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
Khan is accused of plotting with Khalid Sheikh to blow up underground gasoline storage tanks in the US – attacks that were apparently not carried out.
Khan is also accused of conspiring with al Qaeda operatives in Indonesia to bomb bars, cafes and nightclubs frequented by Westerners. Khan, a Pakistani with legal US residence, moved with his family to Baltimore in 1996 and graduated from high school there three years later.
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