Bangladeshi immigrant charged with planning Times Square attack

An immigrant from Bangladesh who allegedly expressed support for the Islamic State group was charged Friday with planning an attack on New York's famed tourist destination Times Square.

Ashiqul Alam, 22, sought to buy guns stripped of their serial numbers and ammunition from undercover investigators and surveilled the popular Manhattan district to identify the best place for an attack, according to the charges.

He also planned to have Lasik surgery before undertaking an attack, so that he would not have to wear glasses.

"I want to die fighting, man," Alam told an undercover US agent in January as they travelled to a Pennsylvania shooting range.

Alam, a Bangladeshi national with permanent residency in the United States, was arrested Thursday in Brooklyn as he sought to take delivery of two Glock 19 pistols he intended to use.

Court filings made clear that he had acted alone.

"There is more to this case than just talk and the desire to carry out a terrorist attack" said William Sweeney,