Man injured in bomb blast suspected of terrorism ties

Federal prosecutors in Spokane are looking into charging an Asotin County man, who was critically injured in a bomb accident last year, with attempting to aid Islamic terrorists.

Joseph Jeffrey Brice, 21, is accused of creating a jihadi website and using it to post bomb-making tips and videos, according to federal sources and documents filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

Members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force executed several search warrants last week on homes and cars owned or associated with Brice, of Clarkston, who earlier this week was indicted by a Spokane grand jury for manufacturing a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) whose premature detonation nearly killed him in April 2010.

The warrants allege Brice set up a YouTube channel under the pseudonym "StrengthofAllah" and posted videos of explosions and jihad-related content.

Some of the videos, according to the FBI, were embedded with the Islamic logo of al-Qaida of Iraq. Bomb experts determined two of the videos of explosives were filmed near where Brice's injuries occurred along Highway 193 in Whitman County, according to the warrants.

A federal law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation said prosecutors are using information gathered with the warrants to determine whether to charge Brice with manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction and rendering material support to terrorists. A number of individuals who appear interested in jihad, including some within the U.S., accessed the site, according to the warrant.

Brice also allegedly planned through email with an unidentified man to rob a Zions First National Bank in Lewiston, Idaho, possibly using a bomb left on nearby school grounds to distract police. The plan was never put into motion.

Agents also found links to an English-language magazine sponsored by al-Qaida. They discovered videos Brice posted to a forum depicting suicide bombings in Pakistan, and also links he accessed to an English-language jihadi-linked site that contains instructions on how to make explosives, according to the search warrants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice in Spokane would say only the investigation into Brice and his activities is ongoing.

Telephone calls to Brice's federal public defender in Spokane were not immediately returned Friday.

The warrants say Brice found an FBI tracking device hidden on his car in February, a month after a backpack bomb was found hidden along the parade route of Spokane's Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. "For some reason they have singled out myself," he posted on another YouTube channel.

A known white supremacist, Kevin Harpham, has been charged in that incident.

Brice allegedly attempted to obtain several false identifications, at one point complaining via email to the Dubai, United Arab Emirates, police that a local company had failed to send the fake ID he had paid for.

He also opened email and PayPal accounts using the name of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, according to the warrant.

Based on his postings, FBI bomb technicians believe Brice was constructing sophisticated and powerful explosive devices, including the one that nearly blew his legs off last April.

He initially told investigators the device consisted of Tannerite, a common substance used to make exploding targets.

Authorities says the reality, though, was that he had made a high-yield explosive using aluminum, acetone and ammonium nitrate that detonated prematurely after he lit it. The blast blew his pants and shoes off, broke one of his legs and peppered him with shrapnel, according to the warrant. Agents noted he was unavailable for an interview because he was hospitalized and in rehab for several months.

"That bomb was massive, though," Brice wrote in a text message to a friend. "Launched me like ten feet and I have crazy scars."

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com