Feds reveal foiled ISIS-linked plot for terror in Times Square

The FBI on Friday revealed the prosecution of three men accused of unsuccessfully plotting "the next 9/11" attack in New York City in 2016 out of sympathy to the Islamic State.

The men allegedly intended to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, to bomb the subway system, and to open fire on crowds at several concert venues last summer either on Memorial Day or during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The plot was foiled significantly thanks to an undercover FBI agent posing as another ISIS supporter.

The three suspects are Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a Canadian citizen arrested in New York; Talha Haroon, a U.S. citizen living in Pakistan; and Russell Salic of the Philippines. El Bahnasawy, who used the "next 9/11" phrase, has already pleaded guilty to several terrorism charges and is awaiting sentencing. The other two men will be extradited to the United States for prosecution. All three face life in prison.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.