New Orleans Attacker Had Explosives Transmitter: FBI

Investigators believe the man who killed 14 people in an apparent terrorist attack in New Orleans planned even more devastation. NBC News reports the FBI and ATF said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who plowed a pickup truck through a crowded street early New Year's Day, also planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosive devices planted nearby. Authorities said that Jabbar set up two bombs on Bourbon Street and that they discovered a transmitter along with two guns inside his truck.

• Rare element: Senior law enforcement officials said the explosives contained a rare compound that has never been seen in a terror attack in the US or Europe, per NBC News.
• Bomb materials: Federal authorities searching Jabbar's home in Houston found a workbench in the garage with hazardous materials that could have been used to make explosive devices, reports the AP.
• Truck rental: The FBI said Jabbar rented the pickup truck on Nov. 14, which means he may have been planning the attack for more than six weeks.
• Change of plans: CNN reports that in videos Jabbar recorded prior to the attack, he said he had planned to assemble his family in order to kill them but changed his mind after dreams inspired him to join the Islamic State. It's unclear when the videos were filmed, but police said it may have been just before Wednesday's attack.
• Lone suspect: Although there was early suspicion that Jabbar had an accomplice, the FBI now contends Jabbar acted alone. "We're confident, at this point, that there are no accomplices," said Christopher Raia of the FBI's counterterrorism division, reports the New York Times.

(More Bourbon Street attack stories.)