Trial date set for alleged mastermind in World Trade Center bombing

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than four years after the bombing of the World Trade Center, a trial date has been set for its alleged mastermind, Ramzi Yousef, and co-defendant Eyad Ismoil.

In a pre-trial hearing Friday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Duffy set July 14 as the start of jury selection, saying that "it was time to get this case tried."

Judge Duffy also called for a pre-trial hearing on June 16 to discuss the reliability of FBI crime lab evidence, citing the anticipated release of a Justice Department report that is expected to touch on concerns about the integrity of evidence processed at the lab and allegations of supervisory pressure to make lab results conform with arguments made by prosecutors.

Yousef was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan in 1995 and convicted of a plot to bomb U.S. airliners in Asia.

Yousef has not been connected with Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman who was convicted for his involvement in a conspiracy to bomb targets in the U.S. and for his participation in an attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

A truck bomb exploded in the underground garage of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993 -- killing six people and injuring about 1,000.

Related story:

• CNN - Plane terror suspects convicted on all counts - Sept. 5, 1996

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