Four men who lived in Southern California were charged with plotting to kill Americans as enemies of Islam after joining al-Qaida and the Taliban, the FBI said.
Sohiel Omar Kabir, a 34-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan and living in Pomona, Calif., allegedly introduced two other Southern California men to the radical Islamist doctrine of U.S.-born Yemeni cleric and al-Qaida member Anwar al-Awlaki, a complaint unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Riverside, Calif., stated.
The United States killed Awlaki Sept. 30, 2011, in a Predator drone strike in Yemen.
The men Kabir introduced to Awlaki's "radical and violent Islamic doctrine" are Ontario, Calif., resident Ralph Deleon, 23, and Upland, Calif., resident Miguel Alejandro Santana, 21, the complaint said.
Santana is a permanent U.S. resident born in Mexico, authorities said, and Deleon is a permanent resident born in the Philippines.
"Kabir influenced Santana and Deleon to convert to Islam," the complaint cited by the Los Angeles Times stated. |