Mastermind Of 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Dies

Omar Ahmad Rahman, who helped orchestrate the bombing of World Trade Center in 1993, died in prison Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. He was 78.

Known as the “blind sheik,” he died at Federal Medical Center Butner in Butner, North Carolina, where he’s been confined since February 2007, the bureau said in a statement.

Rahman died from natural causes, the bureau said. He had battled diabetes and coronary artery disease.

Rahman was serving a life sentence on terrorism-related charges. He was convicted in 1995 for his role in a plot to bomb New York City landmarks, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

Those landmarks included the United Nations headquarters and the Holland and Lincoln tunnels. Prosecutors said at his trial in New York that the terror plots were intended to force the U.S. to end its support of Israel and Egypt.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.