Christmas tree bomber foiled in attempt to explode van near crowded Oregon lighting

A 19-year-old Somali-born self-proclaimed jihadist who promised a "spectacular show" of carnage was busted by the FBI  in a foiled plot targeting an Oregon Christmas tree lighting.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested in downtown Portland Friday night, and remained in custody facing life in prison if convicted in the plan to obliterate the maximum number of holiday revelers in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.

"I want whoever is attending that event to leave ... either dead or injured," the teen told an FBI undercover agent, ignoring a warning that the massive "bomb" would kill plenty of children.

Mohamud stated that was his goals were: A "huge mass ... attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays."

"It's in Oregon, and Oregon, like you know, nobody ever thinks about it," he told the FBI agent.

Mohamud, a one-time Oregon State University student, was in email contact with an associate in a region of Afghanistan known as an Al Qaeda stronghold. But the youth developed the plan without any direction from overseas terrorist groups, The Associated Press reported. The FBI focused on Mohamud after receiving a tip about the teen's activities.

The federal sting operation began five months before the Friday night arrest, with the White House confirming that President Obama was aware of the FBI operation before Mohamud was arrested.

Mohamud was busted just 18 minutes before the tree's lights went on, and just seconds after dialing a cell phone number to "ignite" phony explosives placed in a van bomb parked in downtown Portland, complete with a half-dozen 55-gallon drums inside.

The teenage would be terrorist, a naturalized American citizen, kicked angrily at agents and police following his sudden arrest. "Allahu akbar!" he shouted - Arabic for "God is great!" - as he was taken into custody. He was arrested for attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and due in court tomorrow.

During a trial run to solidify their cover, undercover agents helped Mohamud detonate a small bomb in a secluded area of Oregon earlier this month. During one conversation with undercovers, the teen said the deadly plot was his personal jihad. "Since I was 15 I thought all about this," he said at one point. "It's going to be a fireworks show ... a spectacular show."