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N.Y. Jihadist an Hour Away From Bomb

Jose Pimentel wanted to assassinate U.S. soldiers.

The suspected “lone wolf” jihadist who was arrested on terrorism charges in New York was reportedly just an hour away from finishing constructing a bomb, investigators said. Police say Jose Pimentel, a 27-year-old Al Qaeda sympathizer from Washington Heights, meant to use the bomb to assassinate U.S. soldiers returning from war. Authorities built a duplicate of the device that he was allegedly building, and the detonation blew apart a car, police said. Pimentel, though inspired by the likes of the late cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden, only infrequently attended Muslim services, drank, and smoked marijuana.