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Relatives say Brooklyn bomb suspects are not militants
August 1, 1997Web posted at: 11:10 a.m. EDT (1510 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- One of the men accused of conspiring to set off bombs in the New York City subway may have fallen in with "the wrong people" when he came to the United States but was not involved in terrorism, an uncle said Friday.
Lafi Khalil, a former resident of the West Bank village of Ajoul, outside Ramallah, and Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, formerly of the West Bank city of Hebron, were arrested Thursday in New York after police raided an apartment and seized five bombs.
A criminal complaint said the bombs were strong enough to kill, and that one of the suspects said their targets included the New York subway system. The complaint also states that Khalil told police he'd been arrested previously in Israel and was accused of being a member of a terrorist organization.
But relatives of both men told The Associated Press the suspects had never been involved in political or militant Islamic groups. Suhail Khalil said his nephew was in financial difficulty when he arrived in the United States, and may have been taken advantage of by people because he needed a place to stay.
"His presence in the apartment that was raided is nothing but just being there and not knowing what was going on around him," the uncle said.
Abu Mezer's brother said he was shocked to hear of his arrest. "It's impossible my brother would do something like that," Noor Abu Mezer said. "He's a non-violent person and a person who loves peace."
Abu Mezer, 23, and Khalil, 22, were shot and wounded in the apartment by police who feared the suspects were about to detonate the bombs. They were hospitalized with wounds that were not considered life-threatening.
In the complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court late Thursday, they were charged with conspiring to set off bombs in the subway and in unspecified buildings.
A third man, identified as Abdul Rahman Mossabah, was arrested uninjured. His alleged role in the conspiracy was not immediately released.
Authorities were tipped off to the Brooklyn bombs when a man went into a police station Wednesday night and warned officers that his friends wanted to "follow up on Jerusalem."
However, law enforcement officials in New York City were downplaying any possible link between the bombs and Wednesday's explosions in a Jerusalem market that killed 15 people.
'Wait for all the facts'
At a Thursday afternoon news conference, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said no concrete link had been established between the two incidents.
"People should resist the whole notion of group blame," the mayor said. "People should wait for all the facts."
However, Giuliani said investigators turned up information that at least one of the suspects had expressed happiness about the Jerusalem blast.
"There are indications that at least one of the people involved in this that was arrested was yesterday expressing support for what happened in Israel and was gratified that it had occurred," Giuliani said.
FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom promised "a massive investigation" into who the men are and what their intentions were.
| New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir | |
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He said people should not jump to "a lot of conclusions" about the men and their motive.
Officials confirmed that one of the men was cited Wednesday for jumping the turnstiles at a subway station that is connected to the commuter train station.
Five devices could be used separately, together
A police source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the five devices found in the apartment were 9-inch galvanized metal pipe bombs.
The five explosive components may have been intended as separate bombs or could have been used in combination for a large bomb, said New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir.
Safir said that if exploded in a confined area, they could have killed somebody up to 25 feet away. In an outside area, people as far as 100 feet away could have been injured.
Correspondents Peg Tyre and Charles Feldman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Suspects admit New York subway was bomb target - July 31, 1997
- Explosives found in New York; 3 arrested after tip - July 31, 1997
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