US authorities foil plot to blow up JFK airport

NEW YORK (AFP) - US authorities said Saturday they foiled an Islamic terrorist plot to bomb fuel supplies and pipelines at John F. Kennedy airport, averting a potentially catastrophic attack and "unthinkable" carnage at and around the massive airfield.

Four suspected Islamic extremists -- including Abdul Kadir, a former member of Guyana's parliament -- have been charged over the alleged plot, which officials said had links to international terrorist cells in the Caribbean and South America but was foiled well before it could be carried out.

"Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths, and destruction," US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said, telling reporters in New York the plan was "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," barely three weeks after the arrest of six suspected Islamic radicals on charges of plotting to attack a US military base in New Jersey.