"Operation Badr" Would Also Include Storming Of Parliament

It may have looked a lot like 9/11. That's the word from Canadian anti-terror authorities who this week arrested 17 suspects in connection with a plot that apparently included the use of an airplane as a sort of guided weapon.

Sound familiar? CBS News reports one of the suspects, 19-year old Amin Durrani, even enrolled in flight training at Centennial College -- but pulled out shortly afterwards so as "not to draw attention to himself."

The group planned their attacks and trained in paramilitary fashion at an improvised camp north of Toronto.

The possible threat scenarios were listed in an eight-page synopsis of the case against the dozen adults and five juveniles written by prosecutors. Canadian prosecutors allege suspects Fahim Ahmad, 21, and Zakaria Amara, 20, were the ringleaders, who quoted Al-Qaeda's statements advising followers to seek out "big targets" in the US and Canada.

According to the synapsis, some of the suspects in the terror plot -- called "Operation Badr" -- also talked of storming the Canadian parliament, taking hostages in exchange for the freeing of Muslim prisoners, and the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.

As far as the plot to use an aircraft as a weapon, the synopsis doesn't specify what type of plane was being considered, nor does it say exactly what role it would have played in the attack.

One thing, however, is clear from the synopsis: in spite of the tremendous precautions being taken worldwide to protect commercial aviation from terrorists... al Qaeda and its sympathizers still consider aircraft as potential targets... and potential weapons.

FMI: www.justice.gc.ca/en/index.html