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Team 4: Evidence Of Terrorist Plot Surfaces

POSTED: 12:19 pm EST November 4, 2004
UPDATED: 6:46 pm EST November 4, 2004

PITTSBURGH -- After 9/11, we heard vague comments from officials about a possible terrorist link to our city, but nothing concrete.

Now, Channel 4 Action News has obtained the first-ever specific information tying al Qaeda to Pittsburgh, and a possible plan of attack.

The following exclusive by Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons first aired Nov. 4, 2004, on Channel 4 Action News at 6 p.m.

Snip

McCabe won't comment on specific investigations or threats, but sources inside the U.S. Justice Department confirm to Team 4 that in the days following the attacks of 9/11, American intelligence agents in Hamburg, Germany discovered plans for a possible al Qaeda assault in Pittsburgh.

The target was the U.S. Post Office and courthouse in Pittsburgh. The plan, involving a car and a tractor-trailer packed with explosives, was chillingly specific. The terrorists would focus on the back of the courthouse, where a lone security guard was stationed.

First, the driver of the car would pull onto the loading dock, pretend to have mechanical trouble, and kill the guard. Then, the driver of the tractor-trailer would pull up next to the building and set off a detonation intended to duplicate the 1995 attack on the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.

Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney: "At or around that time, we received some information that there were a number of federal facilities around the country that could potentially be targets of terrorist activity. This building was one of them."

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/3889934/detail.html