Va. man apologizes for planning Metro bombing attack, gets 23 years

An Ashburn man said in court documents that he’s sorry for planning a bombing attack with what he thought were al Qaeda operatives but were actually undercover federal agents. Farooque Ahmed pleaded guilty to planning the attack on Monday and was immediately sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was arrested in October after spending six months observing several Northern Virginia Metro stations so he could help people whom he believed were al Qaeda members plan a terrorist attack that would “cause the most casualties,” authorities said.

On Monday, Ahmed issued an apology.