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New York: An US-educated Pakistani woman was carrying handwritten notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" and listing the Empire State Building and other New York City landmarks when she was detained in Afghanistan, prosecutors said Tuesday.
In an attempted-murder indictment unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors for the first time publicly named some of the landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and Brooklyn Bridge.
Aafia Seddiqi had notes "that referred to a 'mass casualty attack'" and to "the construction of dirty bombs, chemical and biological weapons and other explosives," the indictment said. "These notes also discussed the mortality rates associated with certain of these weapons and explosives."
No terror charges
Seddiqi, who has a degree in science, was to be arraigned yesterday on charges she tried to assault and kill army officers and FBI agents during an interrogation following her detention in July. The indictment alleges she picked up a soldier's rifle, announced her "desire to kill Americans" and fired, but missed.
Authorities had earlier identified Seddiqi as an Al Qaida associate who may have helped potential terrorists enter the United States before vanishing in Pakistan in 2003. Her supporters maintain she was kidnapped and held in US custody before mysteriously surfacing this summer in Afghanistan.
The indictment contains no charges of terrorism. A government official said the landmarks were a "wish list" of potential targets but there was no evidence of a credible plot.
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