A Pakistani woman with alleged links to Al Qaeda has been charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with assault and attempting to kill U.S. security personnel.

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, was arrested in July 2008 by Afghanistan National Police in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan.  When she was turned over to U.S. custody, she allegedly grabbed a U.S. soldier's assault rifle while she was being questioned and fired at U.S. personnel.  During the incident, she repeatedly shouted that she "wanted to kill Americans" and was shot twice in the torso, according to the complaint. 

Siddiqui was extradited to New York on August 4 and indicted on September 2, 2008. She is being charged with four counts of assault, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of discharging a firearm.  

Afghan police found in her possession documents on making explosives, descriptions of New York City landmarks and excerpts from "Anarchist's Arsenal," a book describing various types of incendiary and explosive techniques. Afghan police also discovered personal notes on making chemical weapons and "dirty bombs", according to her indictment.

Siddiqui, a U.S.-educated mother of three, has been wanted for questioning by the FBI since 2004 for being an "operative and facilitator of al-Qaeda," according to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

These allegations reportedly stem from Siddiqui's personal relationship with detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including her husband Ammar al-Baluchi, who allegedly funneled money for his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Siddiqui also allegedly prepared travel documents for Majid Khan, a Pakistani member of Al Qaeda, to travel to the U.S. from Pakistan in 2002.

According to court documents, Siddiqui raised money with her "contemporary" Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, one of the former leaders of the Boston branch of Al-Kifah Refugee Center, a now-defunct charitable organization allegedly linked to the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.