Ohio man accused of planning U.S. terror strike

John Bacon | USA TODAY

An Ohio man trained with Islamic militants abroad and came to the U.S. hoping to carry out a deadly assignment - the latest potential terrorist wannabe to be nabbed by federal authorities.

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, trained in Syria with weapons and explosives, hand-to-hand combat and breaking into houses. He then was instructed by a cleric in the terror organization to return to the United States and commit an act of mass destruction, the indictment said.

Authorities say Mohamud is one of several anti-American terrorist hopefuls who came to the U.S. with a murderous mission. In the last year alone, dozens of Americans have sought to join the Islamic State.

The indictment, handed down by a federal grand jury in Columbus references several "private conversations" between Mohamud and his brother, Abdifatah Aden, that discuss Mohamud's plans to join a terrorist group. His brother had already joined al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra, the indictment says.

"Identifying and neutralizing the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters who return to the United States is one of the National Security Division's highest priorities," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement.

Mohamud is the second Ohio man to be arrested this year in connection with a wannabe plot. Christopher Cornell, an alleged ISIS sympathizer from Green Township, Ohio, was arrested after buying two semiautomatic rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Cornell told an FBI source that he wanted to stage an attack on government buildings in Washington.

Last month, a 19-year-old suburban Denver woman was sentenced to four years in prison after she attempted to travel to Syria last year with the intention of assisting Islamic State militants. Shannon Conley admitted to the judge at her sentencing that she had been led astray.

In the latest case, Mohamud faces charges of attempting to provide and providing material support to terrorists, attempting to provide and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Mohamud left the U.S. bound for Syria in April 2014, the indictment says.

Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen, obtained a U.S. passport and purchased a one-way ticket to Greece. He did not board his connecting flight from Istanbul to Athens, instead traveling to Syria, the indictment says.

The indictment says Mohamud wanted to kill Americans, particularly soldiers and police officers. He apparently discussed plans to travel to a Texas military base and "kill three or four American soldiers execution style."

Mohamud's brother was killed in June 2014 while fighting for a branch of al-Qaeda in Syria. Mohamud returned to the U.S. days later and was arrested in February.