Syria airstrikes reveal Khorasan terrorists who targeted Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The most imminent threat to U.S. targets, the Khorasan group, is composed of disenchanted, ex-al Qaeda leaders who were involved in a printer cartridge bomb plot against Chicago synagogues in 2010, according to federal law enforcement.

Concerns about Khorasan's ability to strike U.S. targets with new, undetectable bomb technology is the reason for increased security order by DHS officials this year at American airports, according to intelligence sources. The TSA ban on uncharged laptops and cellphones was based on information that the Khorasan group had devised a way to pack those devices with new-fangled explosives, a U.S. official said.

The group had established in Syria to construct and test improvised explosive devices and to recruit Westerners for planned attacks on western targets.

Military officials have said the group was nearing the execution phase for an attack in Europe or the (U.S.) homeland. Whether the actual targets had been determined by Khorasan terrorists or known to U.S. officials, the targeted cities have not been revealed.

In October of 2010, two Chicago synagogues were the addressed targets of packages containing bombs hidden inside printer cartridges. Those devices were shipped by the same person from Yemen and found on cargo jets.

A tip from the Saudi intelligence agency prevented the package bombs from being delivered to two Chicago synagogues but resulted in increased security at the time.

Law enforcement authorities then told the I-Team said they believe the explosive PETN was packed in the envelopes found in England and Dubai. The mail bomb packages, officials said, would have detonated upon opening and caused significant destruction and probably death.

Pentagon officials say they now believe the overnight airstrike removed their capability to act.

Until today, many Americans had probably never heard of the group Khorasan, pronounced CORE-uh-zahn, and named for an ancient province in eastern Persia. The territory encompasses present-day Afghanistan, eastern Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Jihadists believe it is the place where they will defeat their enemies.

Khorasan was deployed to Syria by al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the marching orders were to recruit Western passport holders who can more readily board planes back to their homelands.

The Chicago printer cartridge plot that was interrupted by law enforcement gave way to new-generation explosives that could be far more concealable on board commercial airliners. The plot is suspected to have relied on western operatives, including Americans, who had come to Syria to train for jihadist missions.

Perhaps the most chilling part about this potential strike on the American homeland, 13 years after 9/11, is this: there are westerners who fought on the side of radical Islamists in Syria who are now known to have returned to the United States. The White House claims FBI counter-terror agents have them under surveillance.

Bin Laden protege and Kuwaiti disciple Muhsin al-Fadhli is now leading Khorasan, the terror splinter group composed of what some intelligence analysts describe as "al Qaeda all-stars." al-Fadhli is said to have been intimately involved in the Chicago printer-cartridge plot and now behind the Khorasan effort to deploy these new, harder-to-detect bombs on jetliners.

Al-Fadhli, 33, has been on intelligence radar since 2005 when he was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. State Dept. The government said he has provided "financial and material support to the al-Zarqawi Network and al Qaeda."

He is tightly connected to the notorious Yemeni bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, who is part of al Qaeda's outpost there, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Asiri was involved in the 2009 underwear bomb plot interrupted in Detroit and the 2010 Chicago synagogue plot.

The latest threat to America, disrupted last night by airstrikes, was believed to be in it's final stages, according to federal law enforcement.

Last month the ABC7 I-Team revealed that the Chicago skyline was being used as a photo backdrop for Islamic State (IS) terrorists to recruit western jihadis. In the new terrorist magazine "AZAN," a view of downtown Chicago is seen in an article that states killing "Americans and their allies-civilians and military - is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country... a man with a rocket propelled grenade, fulfilling the duty of jihad and responding to the call of the lord."

The State Department is offering a $7 million reward for Muhsin al-Fadhli.