Man held for plotting to attack US Capitol

A 20-year-old Ohio man was arrested Wednesday for planning to explode pipe-bombs around US Capitol, home to country’s federal legislature, and shoot officials.

A 20-year-old Ohio man was arrested Wednesday for planning to explode pipe-bombs around US Capitol, home to country’s federal legislature, and shoot officials.

Christopher Cornell, the suspect, told an undercover FBI agent he had the “thumbs up from the Brothers over there and Anwar al Awlaki before his martyrdom and many others”.

However, The Washington Post said he does not appear to have any formal backing from overseas.

He supports the Islamic State under an assumed name, Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, on Twitter, according to court papers accessed by Reuters.

Cornell had researched pipe bombs on the net, and purchased a semi-automatic weapon and 600 rounds of ammunition and was planning to travel to DC to carry out the attack.

But he was constantly under surveillance and was arrested before he could execute his plot. The FBI said public was never in danger during the investigations.

He considered US lawmakers his enemies who he planned to attack using pipe-bombs.

According to the FBI document, he said he planned to “build, plant and detonate pipe bombs at and near the US Capitol, then use firearms to shoot and kill employees and officials.”