A Philadelphia teenager has been charged with plotting a potentially catastrophic terrorist attack after federal authorities discovered he had been communicating with an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic terror group and gathering bomb-making material.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody by FBI SWAT officers at his home in West Philadelphia on Friday after an investigation headed by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He had access to a significant number of guns and was building bombs, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire said during a Monday press conference.

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

“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.”

The unnamed teen is suspected to have been in contact with Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, an organization designated as a global terrorist group by the US State Department in 2022.  The terror outfit, which has links to the Islamic terror group al Qaeda, primarily operates in Syria’s Idlib Province but is also believed to be responsible for the April 2017 metro attack in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and an August 2016 suicide car bombing outside the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.