It feels like Islamic terrorism has been on the back burner for a while but it’s in the news today because of an arrest made in Philadelphia last week. A 17-year-old whose name has not yet been released was arrested Friday by the Philly SWAT team on charges related to planned terror attacks inside the United States.

A law enforcement official told NBC News that the DA’s office will attempt to try the juvenile as an adult, but that the case would not go to federal court due to the suspect’s age. The 17-year-old is from a Muslim family, the official said, but there were no indications that members of his family were involved or aware of the suspect’s alleged plans.

The suspect had been purchasing materials online and selecting potential targets, the official said…

The suspect, who the two officials declined to name, was in communication with Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ), an al-Qa’ida affiliated group designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2022. He was arrested on Friday, they said.

The announcement of the arrest was made today by Philadelphia’s DA Larry Krasner and the Special Agent in Charge of the case for the FBI, Jacqueline Maguire.

The teen, who was arrested Friday, “conducted general research” into potential targets that weren’t confined to one location, and they were not just in Philadelphia, she said.

“Most concerning was the evidence to his access to firearms and purchased items and materials commonly [used] for constructing improvised explosive devices,” Maguire said. “Among the items he purchased were tactical equipment, wiring, chemicals and devices often used as the detonators.”

These purchases were made within the last few weeks, which quickly escalated this case “in both threat and priority,” she said.

Krasner said his office will see to charge the teen as an adult. Once that happens his name will be released. The teen first got onto the FBI’s radar after he contacted KTJ, a terrorist group located in Syria, earlier this year on Instagram. He allegedly received information on bomb making from the group. There was also some interest expressed in traveling overseas to join them.

There was a more detailed timeline released by Krasner’s office but the site is currently offline for maintenance (which seems odd, but that’s what it says). Here’s a bit of the timeline:

On Aug. 7, FBI special agents observed him buying materials to make IEDs and recovered those items from his household trash.

On Aug. 8, U.S. Customs and Border Protection flagged 14 international shipments of military tactical gear to the suspect’s home.

On Aug. 11, a warrant for the teenager’s arrest was approved and two residences tied to him were searched.

So it sounds like this really had moved beyond the vague ideas stage toward something more serious by the time he was arrested. Two videos to wrap this up. The first is a local news report about the arrest. The second below that is the full press statement by DA Krasner and the FBI.