Bond hearing held for terror attack suspect

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation says Mahin Khan talked about targeting a Jewish community center in Tucson and wanted to hit military personnel.

Instead, he planned to attack a Mesa ADOT DMV office. He told the FBI that he wanted to kill 200-300 people with a bomb he planned to build with instructions from ISIS propaganda.

Khan thought he was talking to a terrorist, someone who would help him carry out an attack, but it was really an undercover FBI agent. In a hearing the lead FBI agent on the case revealed Khan was targeting the MVD office in Mesa. He appeared at a bond hearing Tuesday morning.

"He described the MVD as a soft target, he said that it would have a lot of people and relatively low security," said the agent whose identity is not being revealed.

Khan first came on the FBI's radar in 2013, and they have been watching him ever since. They say in his e-mails they found communication with a known ISIS operative in Syria.

"To quote Mr. Khan, he described himself as an ISIS sympathizer and Jihadist," said the agent.

FBI agents say Khan praised the attacks in Paris, Brussels, and even the Orlando nightclub shooting.

"He said that he wanted to inspire and to create an insurgency in America to inspire people to carry out attacks," said the agent.

Khan told the FBI he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way. His parents were in court, but his father refused to talk about the case.

"No comments at this time, you can talk to the defense about it," said Mahin Khan's father.

Even after his arrest Khan still pledged his allegiance to ISIS and called himself a failed Jihadist.

"He said he wished that he had known that we were conducting a search warrant at his house, and said that if he had known he would have left an IED or pressure cooker device to blow us up," said the agent.

Arizona's Attorney General is prosecuting the case. Because he had other cases, the judge had to stop the hearing without a decision on the suspect's bond. The hearing will continue Wednesday.