Sixth Suspect Indicted in N.Y. Bombing Case

NEW YORK — Prosecutors Wednesday indicted a sixth suspect--a 25-year-old-Iraqi-born cab driver--in the World Trade Center bombing while FBI Director William S. Sessions discounted threats that a large group is planning a wave of terrorist attacks in the United States.

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, described by authorities as a fugitive, was accused of participating in the bombing in the latest indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Investigators said that naming Yousef significantly fleshes out the size of the plot. “The core group has been identified,” a federal source said.

Last week, Mahmud Abouhalima, described by investigators as the “field general” of the trade center bombing, was returned from Egypt, where he had been held for at least 10 days and allegedly had been beaten by Egyptian interrogators.

Government sources said that Yousef was a roommate of Mohammed A. Salameh, who is accused of renting the van believed used to transport the bomb that killed six people and injured more than 1,000 at the trade center on Feb. 26 when it exploded in a parking garage.

Investigators said that Yousef may have fled the country. No details were provided about his alleged role in the bomb plot.

Salameh’s attorney acknowledged Wednesday that Yousef was “an acquaintance” of his client but said that the two had not lived together. Public defender Robert Precht said it is common for people in the immigrant Arab community to share mailing addresses.

Yousef was a passenger in Salameh’s car when Precht’s client had an accident in Woodbridge, N.J., on Jan. 24, the lawyer said.

Yousef’s indictment came as the FBI sought Wednesday to allay concerns raised by a letter claiming responsibility for the blast. That letter, received by the New York Times four days after the bombing, threatened further terrorist attacks on military, civilian and nuclear targets in the United States and abroad.

The one-page communique criticized U.S. support for Israel and “the rest of the dictator countries in the region.” And, in sometimes awkward English, it claimed that “our army has more than hundred and fifty suicidal soldiers” ready to attack American targets.

But Sessions said: “We have no evidence that a large group in the United States is preparing for a wave of terrorist attacks.”

The FBI director warned, however, of the danger of copycat terrorism by “other groups or individuals.”

“The magnitude of the World Trade Center attack naturally heightens the level of concern and awareness of all U.S. citizens,” he said.

The Sessions statement added that the letter had been carefully examined by multiple sources for its “threat validity.”

The letter received by the New York Times demanded a halt to all military, economic and political aid to Israel as well as the severing of diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. It insisted that the United States must not interfere with the “interior affairs” of any Middle East nation. The letter was signed “Liberation Army Fifth Battalion.”

Sources close to the trade center investigation said that investigators have linked the letter to Nidal Ayyad, a 25-year-old chemical engineer who shared several bank accounts with Salameh and whose business card was found in Salameh’s wallet when he was seized.

Investigators traced several calls from a phone adjacent to the storage shed in Jersey City, where the highly volatile bomb was believed to have been constructed, to Ayyad’s telephone number at his place of employment.

When FBI agents raided Ayyad’s home and office earlier this month, they seized writing and computer discs. These materials, investigators charged, contained references to the Liberation Army Fifth Battalion.

Leonard Weinglass, Ayyad’s lawyer, on Wednesday challenged claims that his client, who has been charged in the bombing, was responsible for the communique.

Yousef became the fourth suspect tied directly to the bombing, including Salameh, Ayyad and Abouhalima. The other two arrested are Bilal Alkaisi, who is accused of aiding and abetting the terrorist attack, and Ibrahim A. Elgabrowny, who is charged with obstruction of justice and assaulting federal officers who were trying to search his Brooklyn apartment.

Rempel reported from New York and Ostrow from Washington. Times staff writers John J. Goldman in New York and Elizabeth Shogren in Washington also contributed to this story.