A US man alleged to have been part of a group of militants plotting violent jihad against foreign targets pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of aiding terrorists, officials said.
Zakariya Boyd, charged with his father, brother and five other defendants, pleaded guilty in a North Carolina court to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, the Justice Department said. The 22-year-old faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years. “This case is yet another example of an individual who joined the terrorist cause from within our borders,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Todd Hinnen said in the statement.
Boyd’s father, Daniel Boyd, 40, the alleged ringleader of the group, pleaded guilty in February to the same charge, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons in a foreign country.
Daniel Boyd allegedly travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992 and received military training before fighting in Afghanistan, the Justice Department said in the indictment. He faces life imprisonment.
The indictment accused all eight defendants, seven US citizens and a Kosovar legally residing in the United States, of conspiring to advance violent jihad between November 2006 and July 2009, when they were arrested.
