WASHINGTON: Two American men pleaded guilty to trying to join a terrorist organization abroad and kill American troops, a court in Newark said. The guilty plea for two New Jersey residents, 21-year-old Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and 24-year-old Eduardo Almonte, comes nearly 9 months after the two men were charged with conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap outside the US. Prosecutors have said Messrs. Alessa and Almonte, of North Bergen and Elmwood Park, respectively, sought to join Al Shabaab, a group of Islamic extremists waging war in Somalia against a US-backed government. Although the plot itself appeared to lack sophistication, prosecutors defended the decision to charge the men. Their arrests came just over a month after the failed car bombing in Times Square, also a homegrown terrorism plot. The men were caught up in a three-year investigation that gained steam when an undercover New York Police Department officer began spending time with them. A rookie NYPD officer was tapped to hang out with Messrs. Alessa and Almonte and was instrumental in reporting their movements and building the case against them. The two men were arrested before boarding separate flights at Kennedy Airport, allegedly en route to Somalia. BM
