Daniel Boyd, one of seven men from North Carolina to be charged with planning 'violent jihad' in countries including Israel. Photograph: AP
A father and his two sons are among seven men from the US state of North Carolina to be charged with plotting to carry out "violent jihad" in countries including Israel and Jordan.
Prosecutors say the alleged ringleader, 39-year-old Daniel Boyd, trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan, fighting the Soviets for three years before returning to the US.
They claim he then set up his own training and fundraising organisation, recruiting his two sons, Zakariya, 20, and 22-year-old Dylan.
The seven men are accused of conspiring to kill, kidnap and maim, but not of carrying out actual attacks.
They arranged weapons training, funding and travel for others who wished to fight overseas, the indictment says.
Boyd is also accused of trying to raise money last year to fund others to travel overseas to fight.
"Over the past three years, Boyd has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill," David Kris, of the US department of justice, said.
Boyd lived in a lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, the state capital, where he and his family operated a drywall business.
The court indictment does not detail any specific terrorist plans or targets overseas, but claims some of the defendants travelled to Israel in 2007 with the intent of waging "violent jihad", returning home without having succeeded.
The seven men made their first court appearances in Raleigh yesterday, charged with providing material support to terrorism. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Court documents say Boyd, also known as Saifullah, encouraged others to engage in jihad.
Boyd had stopped attending his local mosque, instead holding Friday prayer meetings at his home, lawyer George Holding said.
"These people had broken away because their local mosque did not follow their vision of being a good Muslim," he added. "This is not an indictment of the entire Muslim community."
In 1991, Boyd and his brother were convicted of bank robbery in Pakistan and accused of carrying identification showing they belonged to the radical Afghan guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or the Party of Islam.
Each was sentenced to have a foot and a hand cut off for the robbery, but the decision was later overturned.
At the time, their wives told the Associated Press in an interview that the couples had US roots but said the US was a country of "heathens".
It is not the first case of its kind in the US. In May, five men were convicted of conspiring to blow up the Sears tower in Chicago.
In January 2008, Jose Padilla, a Muslim convert, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for plotting to kill people overseas and supporting terrorism.
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