A couple who police say claimed ties to the New Black Panther Party have been charged with planting a fake bomb at an elementary school earlier this month.

Zachary Edwards, 35, and Raphel Dilligard, 34, of Birmingham confessed that they planned to ambush cops who responded to the fake bomb threat in order to start a race war.

AL.com:

"When we first saw what we had, we knew this was something to take serious and we put on the full-court press. It disturbed us from the start,'' Hyche said. "I've never seen such a well-orchestrated and rapid response."

Hyche today said the children and staff weren't in any danger from the device, and even if it had been in working condition, it was on the far side of the school where there was no glass.

The first break in the case came when investigators were able to trace that 911 to a cell phone that had once been owned by Edwards, said Hyche and Bridges. The 911 call was actually placed by Edwards, who disguised his voice to try to sound like a woman.

Also, the timer – a stopwatch - used on the device was determined to have been sold at Walmart, and Hyche said investigators then analyzed all 18 recent buyers in the area. They quickly eliminated those that would have a legitimate reason for needing a timer – like a track coach - that ultimately led them to the store in Irondale where a woman - later determined to be Dilligard - was seen on video surveillance buying the timer.

Edwards and Dilligard were taken into custody Tuesday evening at their home in the 7700 block of Fifth Avenue South.

Once brought in for questioning, both gave confessions. Edwards admitted to planting the device, and said his plan was to get all police officers and first responders in one place so he could shoot them. "I guess he doesn't like cops,'' Bridges said.

Edwards also talked of using the incident as a diversion so he could commit crimes elsewhere -  such as robbing a bank - while the police were tied up at the elementary school, but backed out of that plan.

"Probably because of the overwhelming response to the area,'' Hyche said. "He wanted everybody in one place so he could kill cops. He made it clear to our guys he wanted to commit acts of violence. This arrest probably did stop something bad from happening."

He discussed starting a race war, but authorities didn't elaborate on what he said.

Black nationalist groups like the NBPP have been on the rise for years, as the hysterical rhetoric from the left enables violence and feeds the paranoia of black conspiracists.  Black Lives Matter has been pouring gasoline on this fire since the group's inception, warning about "terrorist police" and cops targeting young black men for death.

The pair of black nationalists plotting to ambush police and start a race war are the inevitable result of this hysteria.  Even with Obama out of the picture, the black nationalists and BLM will continue to grow in strength and numbers, becoming the sharp end of the stick for Democratic activists, who will almost certainly spend the next four years ginning up outrage against Donald Trump and reacting violently to every tragic shooting of a black man by police.