A 25-year-old man described as an Islamic extremist was arrested in a plot to attack crowded areas in the Tampa, Florida area with a car bomb, assault rifle and other explosives

The U.S. Department of Justice said that Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the former Yugoslavia, has been arrested. Osmakac, from Pinellas County, told an undercover agent that "We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?" according to a federal complaint. FBI agents arrested Osmakac after he bought explosive devices and firearms from an undercover agent. The firearms and explosives were rendered inoperable by law enforcement. The federal complaint says that shortly before his arrest, Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. He has been charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials said a confidential source told them in September 2011 that Osmakac wanted Al Qaeda flags. Two months later, the federal complaint said, Osmakac and the confidential source discussed and identified potential targets in Tampa that Osmakac wanted to attack. Osmakac asked the source for help getting the firearms and explosives for the attacks, and the source put him in touch with an undercover FBI employee. On December 21, 2011 Osmakac met with the undercover agent and told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi sub-machine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and explosive belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items. "According to the complaint, Osmakac also asked the undercover employee whether he/she could build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, near where Osmakac would conduct a follow-up attack using the other weapons he requested," a press release from the Department of Justice said. "The undercover employee said he/she could possibly provide explosives for one vehicle. Osmakac also allegedly said that he wanted an explosive belt constructed to kill people." On January 1, 2012 Osmakac told the agent that he wanted to bomb night clubs, the Operations Center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a business in Tampa, Florida. Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car bomb and use the explosive belt to get in somewhere where there's a lot of people and take hostages. He also told the agent that "Once I have this…they can take me in five million pieces," in an apparent reference to a suicide blast. During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac that he could always change his mind about his plot. Osmakac had created a martyrdom video and tried on a bomb belt before being arrested, law enforcement officials said.