BOSTON -- The airline passenger accused of trying to ignite explosives in his shoes was indicted Wednesday on charges of being an al-Qaida-trained terrorist whose goal was to blow up the plane and kill the nearly 200 people aboard.
Richard Reid, a 28-year-old British citizen and convert to Islam, could get five life sentences if convicted.
The indictment, issued by a federal grand jury in Boston, alleges Reid attempted to kill the 197 passengers and crew aboard a Paris-to-Miami American Airlines flight Dec. 22 before he was tackled and the jetliner was diverted to Boston.
Reid did ``attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction ... consisting of an explosive bomb placed in each of his shoes,'' the indictment said.
The indictment said Reid ``received training from al-Qaida in Afghanistan.''
In a statement, Tamar Birckhead, one of Reid's court-appointed attorneys, noted that her client is considered innocent until proven guilty. She added that ``the indictment does not allege that any of the crimes charged were committed on behalf of or to further the cause of al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization. We are aware of no basis for such an allegation.''
A U.S. official said Reid may be an al-Qaida target scout, an Israeli official said it was possible Reid was gathering intelligence for large-scale terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv and other cities. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said in Washington that the charges ``alert us to a clear, unmistakable threat that al-Qaida could attack the United States again.''
``We must be prepared. We must be ready. We must be vigilant,'' he said.