NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Malian national with ties to militant groups pleaded guilty on Thursday to a U.S. charge that he conspired to kill an American diplomat during a 2000 car jacking in Niger. Alhassane Ould Mohamed, 46, admitted in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to participating in a conspiracy to murder William Bultemeier, a defense attache system operations coordinator working at Niger's U.S. Embassy.
Through an interpreter, Mohamed said "it was not my intent to kill somebody" and had no specific target when he shot his rifle during the car jacking. But he said he knew someone could get shot and saw "someone on the ground" afterward.