3 charged with planning attacks in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-22 08:50

Three Muslim men from the Middle East were charged Tuesday with plotting terrorist attacks against US and coalition troops in Iraq and other countries.

One of the men, a citizen of both the United States and Jordan, was also accused of threatening to kill or injure President Bush.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, center, gestures during a news conference announcing the indictment of three Ohio men, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, formerly of Toledo; Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, of Toledo; and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, of Toledo, on charges of planning attacks on US military personnel in Iraq during at the Justice Department, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, in Washington. [AP]

All three had lived in Toledo within the past year and were arrested over the weekend — two of them in Toledo, the third in Jordan, authorities said.

An unidentified US citizen with a military background helped the government foil the plot by working with the suspects while secretly gathering evidence, according to the indictment.

"This case stands as a reminder of the need for continued vigilance in the war on terrorism," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Washington.

The federal indictment does not specify whether any attacks were imminent but says the suspects recruited others as early as November 2004 to train for holy war against the United States and its allies in Iraq.