Fort Dix jurors shown jihadist video

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CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors say jihadist videos downloaded onto a New Jersey man's computer show he was plotting a terrorist attack on the Fort Dix Army base.

Prosecutors presenting their case against defendant Mohamad Shnewer and four others accused of plotting the attack played one of the videos in a Camden, N.J., federal courtroom Wednesday, showing Taliban militants carrying out a bloody raid against U.S. Navy Seals in Afghanistan, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Investigators said the videos help explain the defendants' motivation for planning an attack, but defense attorneys countered that Shnewer downloaded the videos only at the urging of an FBI informant who had befriended the men and goaded them with tough talk about jihad, the newspaper said.

Prosecutors also said the men shot at red balloons while taking target practice during a trip to the Pocono Mountains in 2007, pretending they were the heads of American soldiers. But defense lawyers pointed out the men never talked about plans to attack Fort Dix during the trip, the Inquirer reported.