A California man used Facebook to contact al-Qaeda (Picture: AFP / Getty)

A man who used Facebook to contact al-Qaeda operatives has pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge in the US.

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, 24, tried to assist the militant Islamist group by offering to provide weapons training, a court heard.

The California man faces up to 15 years in prison after he was unmasked by an undercover FBI agent posing as a recruiter for the terrorist group.

He said he planned to offer himself as a trainer of some 30 al-Qaeda forces to ambush troops in Syria, where he had already spent five months fighting with rebels.


The US attorney’s office said in a statement: ‘Nguyen admitted that approximately one year ago he travelled to Syria where he joined opposition forces.



‘Using a social network site during a four-month period he was in Syria, Nguyen told people that he was fighting against the Assad regime and that he had had a confirmed kill.’

When he returned to the US he told associates that he had offered to train al-Qaeda forces in Syria but was turned down.

Nguyen pleaded guilty to a Federal terrorism charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation

The judge who accepted the plea expressed scepticism about whether Nguyen had any special skills to offer al-Qaeda.

He will be sentenced in March.