Three men in US charged with plotting to kill troops

WITH jobs, families and college courses, three men of Middle Eastern descent appeared to be active members of their Midwestern communities, but prosecutors say they were plotting to kill US and coalition troops in Iraq.

According to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday, they are charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure people or damage property in a foreign country. They are also charged with conspiracy to kill Americans and harbouring or concealing terrorists.

The indictment says the group travelled to a shooting range to practice and studied how to make explosives. It alleges that at least one of the men researched and tried to obtain government grants and private funding for the training.

The three men pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo.

Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, a citizen of both the US and Jordan, is accused of threatening to kill or injure President George W Bush and distributing information about making and using bombs, according to the indictment. He briefly attended the University of Toledo.

Wassim I Mazloum, 24, came to the US from Lebanon in 2000 and got a job at a restaurant and helping run small car dealerships with his family, he told a judge. He said he was taking classes in computer science engineering at the university until his arrest on allegations of trying to learn how to make roadside bombs using household materials, among other claims.

Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, a US citizen born in Jordan, was a familiar sight to neighbours who watched his children play outside. The indictment alleges he sought to pass along to recruits information about using a suicide bomb vest.

All three had lived in Toledo within the past year and were arrested over the weekend.

An unidentified person with a military background helped the US government foil the plot by working with the suspects while secretly gathering evidence.

El-Hindi is accused of trying to get that person to travel with him in 2004 to the Middle East as part of a plot to establish a terrorism training centre.