Woman accused of foiled ISIS-inspired New York bombing plot

Federal prosecutors in New York alleged that a 35-year-old woman plotted to plant a bomb in the state Capitol building in Albany, according to a Thursday court filing. The FBI arrested Jessica Bowie Wednesday night and charged her with attempting to provide material aid to terrorists, FBI Director Kash Patel shared Thursday.

Bowie allegedly swore allegiance to the Islamic State group and planned to carry out a fatal attack using explosives on New York state legislators at the state Capitol, Patel said. Investigators arrested Bowie just as she came into possession of what she believed to be an explosive device, according to a separate Thursday statement from the FBI. Bowie converted to Islam around 2021 and started going by Aisha Saif, according to the court filing. The Department of Justice released several surveillance photos that investigators said showed Bowie purchasing items necessary for building an explosive, and of her taking pictures of the state Capitol building.

How was she identified by authorities? Investigators identified several pro-terror social media posts from accounts linked to Bowie earlier this year, including “Praise be to Allah for September 11th” and “I will poison the infidels.” Bowie also shared recordings of herself repeating a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State and those who engage in jihad, according to the court filing. Prosecutors cited messages in which the Albany woman claimed she wanted to launch the attack to benefit the Arabic community and harm enemies of Allah.

Bowie shared screenshots with an undercover agent of her discussions with other Islamic State group supporters on other platforms, according to court documents. Bowie tried to speak about jihad as openly as possible without getting arrested, according to the filing. The woman aimed to destroy as much of the Capitol building as possible and kill legislators inside the building, Bowie allegedly told the agent. She hoped the attack would impact the American system and that many important documents would be lost, the filing reported.

Bowie aimed to hide the bomb in a food bag and plant it in the building while posing as a delivery person, according to an alleged chat log. The attack would ideally happen on a day when the most senators were there, she allegedly said. Bowie hoped to flee the country directly after the attack to an Islamic State–controlled portion of Syria, according to prosecutors.