Profile: Terry Nichols

Terry Nichols. [Source: Oklahoma City Police Department]A Philippine undercover operative and one of his wives claims that Terry Nichols, later convicted for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, meets with al-Qaeda bomber Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines at these times. The operative, Edwin Angeles, was the second in command in the militant group Abu Sayyaf from 1991 to 1995 while secretly working for Philippine intelligence at the same time (see 1991-Early February 1995). In 1995, after the Oklahoma City bombing, he will claim in a videotaped interrogation that in late 1992 and early 1993 there are meetings in the southern Philippines between Yousef, Nichols, and a second would-be American terrorist named John Lepney. There are additional meetings with the same people and others in late 1994. For about a week, Angeles, Yousef, Nichols, and Lepney, are joined by Abdurajak Janjalani, the leader of Abu Sayyaf, two members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah (both of whom are working with Yousef on the Bojinka plot (see January 6, 1995), and a half-brother of Yousef known only by the alias Ahmad Hassim (this is a probable reference to Yousef’s brother Abd al-Karim Yousef, who is living in the Philippines at the time). Elmina Abdul, Angeles’ third wife, will add additional details about these 1994 meetings in a taped 2002 hospital confession to a Philippines reporter days before her death. She only remembers Nichols as “Terry” or “The Farmer” and doesn’t remember the name of the other American. She says, “They talked about bombings. They mentioned bombing government buildings in San Francisco, St. Louis, and in Oklahoma. The Americans wanted instructions on how to make and to explode bombs. [Angeles] told me that Janjalani was very interested in paying them much money to explode the buildings. The money was coming from Yousef and the other Arab.” [Gulf News, 4/3/2002; Insight, 4/19/2002; Manila Times, 4/26/2002; Insight, 6/22/2002] (“The other Arab” may be a reference to the Arab Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law, because Janjalani’s younger brother later claimed Abu Sayyaf was funded in its early years by Yousef and Khalifa). [CNN, 1/31/2007] She claims Nichols and Lepney are sent to an unnamed place for more instructions on bomb-making to destroy a building in the US. She also says that Angeles and others in Abu Sayyaf believed Yousef worked for the Iraqi government. [Insight, 6/22/2002] The Manila Times later reports that “Lepney did indeed reside and do business in Davao City [in the Southern Philippines] during 1990 to 1996.” One bar owner recalls that when he got drunk he liked to brag about his adventures with local rebel groups. [Manila Times, 4/26/2002]

Entity Tags: Terry Nichols, Ramzi Yousef, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Wali Khan Amin Shah, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Elmina Abdul, John Lepney, Abd al-Karim Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, Abu Sayyaf, Abdurajak Janjalani, Edwin Angeles

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Abdul Hakim Murad is in a US prison awaiting trial for his alleged role in the Bojinka plot (see January 6, 1995). Told about the Oklahoma City bombing that took place earlier in the day (see April 19, 1995), he immediately takes credit for the bombing on behalf of his associate Ramzi Yousef. However, Yousef, also in US custody at the time, makes no such claim. An FBI report detailing Murad’s claim is submitted to FBI headquarters the next day. [Lance, 2006, pp. 163-164] A Philippine undercover operative will later claim that Terry Nichols, who will be convicted for a major role in the Oklahoma City bombing, met with Murad, Yousef, and others in the Philippines in 1994, and discussed blowing up a building in Oklahoma and several other locations (see Late 1992-Early 1993 and Late 1994). Counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke will later comment, “Could [Yousef] have been introduced to [Nichols]? We do not know, despite some FBI investigation. We do know that Nichols’s bombs did not work before his Philippine stay and were deadly when he returned.” [Clarke, 2004, pp. 127] Mike Johnston, a lawyer representing the Oklahoma City bombing victims’ families, will later comment, “Why should Murad be believed? For one thing, Murad made his ‘confession’ voluntarily and spontaneously. Most important, Murad tied Ramzi Yousef to the Oklahoma City bombing long before Terry Nichols was publicly identified as a suspect.” [Insight, 6/22/2002] Also on this day, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, an associate of Yousef and Murad who is being held in the US, is moved from a low security prison to a maximum security prison. [Lance, 2006, pp. 164] But despite these potential links to Muslim militants, only five days after the Oklahoma City bombing the New York Times will report, “Federal officials said today that there was no evidence linking people of the Muslim faith or of Arab descent to the bombing here.” [New York Times, 4/24/1995] Murad’s claim apparently will not be reported in any newspaper until two years later. [Rocky Mountain News, 6/17/1995]

Entity Tags: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Richard A. Clarke, Mike Johnston, Terry Nichols, Abdul Hakim Murad, Ramzi Yousef

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline