Al-qaida suspects sent for trial

An Italian judge today indicted three men - a Tunisian, an Algerian and a Moroccan - suspected of links to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network for allegedly providing logistical support to Islamic militants.

The trial was set to start in Milan on October 8, said Antonio Nebuloni, a lawyer for one of the defendants.

The men - not directly connected to the September 11 attacks - are accused of criminal association, possession of arms and explosives, and of supplying false documents to members of al-Qaida, bin Laden’s terror network.

The three were arrested in November in Milan in connection with a probe into the activity of the city’s Islamic Cultural Centre, which US authorities have described as the main al-Qaida station house in Europe.

They were allegedly recruiting fighters to train in bin Laden’s Afghan camps.

Two of the defendants worked respectively as the Islamic centre’s librarian and secretary. They also worked at the Milan mosque.