3 Minnesota Men Found Guilty of Plotting to Join ISIS

— -- Three Somali-Minnesotan men in their early twenties were found guilty Friday of plotting to travel to Syria to join ISIS.

The most serious of the crimes Mohamed Farah, 22, Abdirahman Daud, 22, and Guled Omar, 21, were convicted of is conspiracy to commit murder outside the U.S., which carries the possibility of life in prison, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Attorney Luger said in a statement that the three men wanted to kill innocent people and that the trial should serve as a wake-up call to Minnesota residents.

"The evidence in this case made clear that the defendants made a deeply personal and deliberate decision back in 2014,” Luger said. “They wanted to fight for a brutal terrorist organization, kill innocent people and destroy their own families in the process. This trial should serve as a wake-up call that it will take the entire community to stop terror recruiting in Minnesota.”

In addition to those charges, Farah was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, two counts of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, perjury and providing a false statement.

Daud was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, attempting to provide support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and perjury. He was found not guilty on one count of perjury, according to the Associated Press.

Omar was found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, two counts of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempted financial fraud.

The three men appeared in a Minneapolis courtroom Friday afternoon to hear the verdict. They are among a group of 10 young men accused in the conspiracy, AP reported -- six who pleaded guilty and the seventh who is believed to be in Syria.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution called 26 witnesses to build the case that the three men joined a conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and a conspiracy to murder outside the United States. Witnesses for the prosecution included FBI agents, various law enforcement officers, forensic examiners and relatives of other Somali-Minnesotans accused of joining terrorist organizations.

Prosecutors built their case based largely on recordings made by a friend of the men who became a paid informant, AP reported. The trial began May 9 and lasted 17 days.

The jury consisted of eight women and seven men, none of whom are minorities. Three jurors served as alternates.

Minnesota is home to the country's largest Somali community, which has been a target for terror recruiters, according to AP. About a dozen people have left Minnesota to join militant groups fighting in Syria in recent years, and since 2007, more than 22 men have joined al-Shabab in Somalia, AP reported, citing the FBI.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement that the government would continue to fight against the terrorism recruitment in the United States.

"We will continue to work to disrupt the recruitment and radicalization of Americans by terrorist organizations and bring to justice those who conspire to provide material support to terrorists," he said.