A man charged with terrorism and extradited to the U.S. faced his first court appearance Thursday and will remain in federal custody until his trial.
Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Ahmad, a Syrian national, was arrested in Turkey in 2011 on charges he helped supply insurgents in Iraq with the parts needed to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) designed to attack U.S. and allied troops.
He was extradited Wednesday to the U.S. after a grand jury earlier this month indicted him on the terrorism-related charges. A trial is set for Oct. 7. If convicted, Mr. Al-Ahmad faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mr. Al-Ahmad faces charges that, from 2005 to 2010, he supplied the 1920 Revolution Brigades, an insurgent group, with the parts to make IEDs, according to information from the Justice Department.
According to the indictment, Mr. Al-Ahmad helped build the wireless and radio-controlled trigger systems for the explosives. Prosecutors said that four U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded by two IED explosions in 2007 using electronic systems very similar to those created by Mr. Al-Ahmad.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Al-Ahmad “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree … to use a weapon of mass destruction.”
Turkey has recently come under increasing international pressure to improve security after it was revealed that many members of the Islamic State may have traveled to Turkey before entering Syria and eventually Iraq.
• Phillip Swarts can be reached at pswarts@washingtontimes.com.
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