
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260161
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

BLAST SUSPECT CHARGED

A radical Muslim cleric was charged Wednesday with commanding a "war of urban terrorism" that included the World Trade Center bombing and foiled plots to blow up New York landmarks, attack U.S. military sites and kill Egypt's president.

The federal indictment charges 15 men in all and is the first time prosecutors have tied together those conspiracies and other alleged terrorist acts, including the 1990 assassination of militant Rabbi Meir Kahane, as part of a broad scheme to terrorize the United States.

It also was the first time Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman was charged in the Trade Center attack and bomb-spree plot. The blind cleric has denounced and denied any involvement in those conspiracies, though followers of his have been charged in both cases.

Abdel-Rahman has been in federal custody since July 2, fighting an order that he be deported to Egypt because he lied to get into the United States. Now, he will stay in this country to stand trial.

The indictment described an organization that only strengthened its resolve after the Trade Center bombing, plotting to kill FBI agents and kidnap hostages to trade for those charged in the blast.

One of the 15 defendants is El Sayyid A. Nosair, who was acquitted on state murder charges in the Kahane killing but is in a New York state prison on a related weapons conviction.

This time, Nosair was indicted on federal racketeering charges in the shooting death of Kahane in a New York City hotel.

Nosair, Abdel-Rahman and two others among the 15 were accused of conspiring to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

by CNB