Suspected Suicide Bomber Arrested Near U.S. Capitol

Federal authorities on Friday arrested a Moroccan man who was allegedly planning a suicide attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Fox News broke the story, and the main details were quickly confirmed by other news outlets including CNN and the Washington Post.

U.S. Capitol Police, who made the arrest with the FBI, released a brief statement Friday afternoon confirming that an unnamed person was arrested "in the area of the U.S. Capitol" but stressing that "at no time was the public or congressional community in any danger."

Authorities said that the arrest was the result of an extensive operation, during which federal agents closely monitored the suspect. At the time of the arrest, the suspect had what he believed to be a vest packed with explosives, but in fact the materials had been previously rendered inoperable by law enforcement agents, the Washington Post reports.

The suspect, said to be in his thirties, entered the United States with a family member and later come to the attention of the FBI, according to unnamed law enforcement officials. The suspect reportedly believed that the undercover FBI agents he was working with—and who gave him the inoperable explosives and a gun—were members of al-Qaida.

The man was arrested in a parking lot near the Labor Department, located only a few blocks from the Capitol, which authorities told Fox News and others was his apparent target.