Jury finds Taliban bomb-maker guilty of plotting UK attack

LONDON – A London jury found a 28-year-old man guilty of plotting an attack on lawmakers outside the Houses of Parliament.

Khalid Ali had three knives tucked into his clothes when he was arrested near the heart of Britain’s government in April 2017. Counterterrorism police had been watching Ali since he returned from Afghanistan, where prosecutors alleged he spent five years making bombs for the Taliban.

Prosecutors say an FBI database revealed that his fingerprints matched those found on bomb-making equipment recovered in Afghanistan.

The prosecution told jurors at London’s Central Criminal Court that Ali intended to kill a police officer, service member or lawmaker “in response to what he saw as Western aggression against Muslims around the world.”

Judge Nicholas Hilliard ordered him held and set sentencing for July 12.