Three Men Charged With Planning Attacks, Jihad
Feb. 21, 2006 — -- A federal grand jury in Ohio has indicted three men from Ohio for their alleged involvement in an international terrorist plot to target U.S. armed forces in Iraq.
Mohammad Zaki Amawi, a naturalized American citizen from Jordan; Marwan Othman El Hindi, also a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan; and Wassim Mazloum, a legal permanent resident of the United States from Lebanon, have been indicted on charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to maim and kill U.S. armed forces serving in Iraq.
Amawi was indicted in all five counts of the indictment on charges that included making threats against President Bush. According to the indictment, Amawi twice made verbal threats against President Bush in the presence of other people not identified in the indictment. Amawi is also charged with distributing information regarding explosives.
The indictment also alleges that at least one of the men researched and solicited funding for their plans, which included getting government grants and private sponsors, though it does not name any government or potential sponsors.
El Hindi and Mazloum are charged with conspiring to provide material support and conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim persons outside the United States.
The indictment also accuses Mazloum of using the car business he operated in Toledo with his brother as a cover for traveling to and from Iraq so that he could learn how to build small explosives using household materials.
All three were arrested by the FBI over the weekend and were to be arraigned in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo this afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bauer said.
The indictment alleges that as part of the conspiracy, the men would recruit others to train for violent jihad in Iraq. According to court documents, the men solicited funding for training through the Internet and used a series of Web sites to exchange training materials, including instructional videos on the production and use of IEDs and suicide bomb vests.
The case centers around the activities of the three men and a confidential informant identified in court papers as "the Trainer."
"The Trainer" has a U.S. military background and was solicited by El Hindi to provide security and bodyguard training, according to the indictment.
In November 2004, the men began to discuss their plans and to work with "the Trainer" on their plans to target U.S. military forces overseas, the indictment said. They allegedly held numerous meetings and discussions about their plans in early 2005. The training and plans continued in April 2005, when the men allegedly practiced target shooting at an indoor range in Ohio.
During this outing, they also discussed training with real explosives on July 4 in such a way that the explosions would not be noticed, the indictment said. It was not clear whether the suspects went through with those plans.
Their plans allegedly progressed over the summer in 2005, and Amawi and "the Trainer" traveled to Jordan on Aug. 22, 2005. According to the indictment, on this trip they brought five laptops to bring to "mujahadeen brothers."
Amawi is set to make an appearance before a federal magistrate in Cleveland. El Hindi and Mazloum will appear before a magistrate in Toledo.
ABC News' Jason Ryan contributed to this report