NEW YORK, May 26 (UPI) -- A senior member of al-Qaida pleaded guilty Tuesday to plotting to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and conspiring to provide support to the terror group.
Saddiq al-Abbadi, 40, of Yemen, was arrested in Saudi Arabia in January after he traveled from Yemen to Iraq to fight against U.S. forces between 2005 and 2007. He did the same after traveling from Pakistan to Afghanistan in 2008.
The Department of Justice said al-Abbadi had longstanding ties to senior members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
"The defendant was a high-level al-Qaida operative with ties to the terrorist group's senior leadership in both Pakistan and Yemen," said Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie. "He fought in battles against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, tried to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan by luring them to a compound rigged with explosives, and helped an American citizen gain entry to al-Qaida. We stand resolute in our commitment to bring to justice those who would try to harm members of our military or who assist al-Qaida's efforts to kill Americans at home or abroad."
Court records also said al-Abbadi befriended Bryant Neil Vinas, a recruit from New York, and helped him join al-Qaida, which cleared the way for a plot against the Long Island Rail Road commuter train. Vinas was captured in 2008 and pleaded guilty on charges that include conspiracy to murder.
Al-Abbadi faces a maximum of life in prison. He pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garafuis of the Eastern District of New York.
