Alleged terrorist arrested in Canada

An alleged terrorist was arrested in Canada on Wednesday on the charges of conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq and for providing material support to that conspiracy.

Faruq Khalil Muhammad, also known as ?Faruk Khalil Muhammad ?Isa,? ?Sayfildin Tahir Sharif,? and ?Tahir Sharif Sayfildin,? is the name of the alleged terrorist.

The United States government will seek the defendant?s extradition for his trial.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The government?s investigation is being conducted by the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, with assistance provided by the Department of Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the government of Tunisia.

The defendant is charged in connection with his support for a multinational terrorist network that conducted multiple suicide bombings in Iraq and that is responsible for the death of five American soldiers.

According to the complaint, filed on Jan 14, 2011, in the Eastern District of New York, the five American soldiers were killed on Apr 10, 2009, when a Tunisian ?jihadist?, whose travel to and activities in Iraq were facilitated by the terrorist network, drove a truck laden with explosives to the gate of the United States Military?s Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq.

According to the complaint, the network unsuccessfully tried to send a second group of Tunisian jihadists to Iraq in Mar 2009.

According to the complaint, the defendant has continued, since March and April 2009 attacks, to seek to further the network?s attacks against Americans in Iraq, and to state his motive for doing so.

The defendant allegedly also sought to conduct attacks himself and become a suicide bomber for the terrorist network.

He informed his mother in Nov 2009, that his greatest wish was to die a martyr and be greeted by 70 virgins in paradise.

In a conversation with an Iraq-based leader of the terrorist network in Jan 2010, the defendant volunteered to travel to Iraq, take up arms against the Americans, and subsequently conduct a suicide mission.

?There is no safe harbor for terrorists, including those who endeavor to spread violence from halfway across the world,? stated United States Attorney Lynch.

?The five American servicemen who lost their lives in Iraq as a result of the actions of this terrorist network made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. Today?s arrest demonstrates that we have not forgotten that sacrifice and will continue to use every available means to bring to justice all those who are responsible.?

?The terrorist threat may be decentralized, but it is undeniably international,? said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Fedarcyk.

?In a real sense, the safety and security of people anywhere depends on the ability and commitment of counter terrorism entities everywhere to work together. If national borders don?t deter terrorists, we can?t allow boundaries to impede the global effort to prevent a global threat.?

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.