New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says police have arrested a man who was plotting to attack post offices, police cars, and soldiers returning from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The mayor told reporters Sunday 27-year-old Jose Pimentel was inspired by al-Qaida, but that he was working as a “lone wolf,” and not as part of a larger conspiracy.

New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly said the suspect had already begun building three pipe bombs when police arrested him Saturday afternoon. He said the New York City-resident was using a bomb-making manual called “How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mother.”

Pimentel has been charged with conspiring to build a bomb for terrorist purposes and possessing tools to wage a campaign of violence.

Authorities said the U.S. citizen was originally born in the Dominican Republic and lived most of his life in New York. The said he was a convert to Islam, identified himself with terrorist organizations, was considering changing his name to Osama Hussein, after Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and was a follower of the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

The cleric was killed earlier this year in a U.S. airstrike in Yemen.