3 Charged With Planning Attacks in Iraq
By M.R. KROPKO
CLEVELAND (AP) - A federal grand jury has indicted three Ohio men on terrorism charges alleging they plotted to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Iraq and other countries.
The three men were arrested over the weekend and were to be arraigned in federal courts in Cleveland and Toledo on Tuesday afternoon, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bauer.
According to the indictment unsealed Monday, the three suspects recruited others to train for a violent holy war against the United States and its allies in Iraq. The indictment says they traveled together to a shooting range to practice shooting guns and studied how to make explosives.
The indictment alleges that one of the men, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, twice threatened to kill or inflict bodily harm against President Bush while speaking with others.
Prosecutors say the plot began in November 2004.
Amawi is a citizen of Jordan and the U.S. The others are Marwan Othman El-Hindi, a U.S. citizen born in Jordan; and Wassim I. Mazloum, who came to the U.S. from Lebanon in 2000. Mazloum operated a car business in Toledo with his brother.