US al-Qaeda suspect pleads guilty

The men say they only went to Pakistan to study Islam

One of six Yemeni-American men arrested four months ago and charged by the US Government with supporting al-Qaeda has pleaded guilty to helping the organisation.

The defendants

Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22

Yasein Taher, 24

Faysal Galab, 26

Yahya Goba, 25

Shafal Mosed, 24

Sahim Alwan, 29

Faysal Galab, 26, entered the plea of guilty to contributing "funds, goods and services" to the network during a court hearing on Friday in Buffalo, New York, after previously pleading not guilty along with his five co-defendants.

The suspects - American citizens of Yemeni origin who are all in their 20s - were arrested in a series of FBI raids in the town of Lackawanna, near Buffalo, in September.

Prosecutors say they received weapons training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 2001, before returning to the US as a so-called sleeper terrorist cell, waiting to be called into action.

If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in jail.

'Disenchantment'

The five were not charged in connection with the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 - or any other violent crime.

They were indicted under the 1996 anti-terrorism act, which makes it a crime to provide "material support" to groups listed by the US Government as terrorist organisations.

Defence lawyers have argued that the defendants, all Muslims, had gone to Pakistan to further their education in their faith.

Some of the men have admitted to attending a camp in Afghanistan, but argued that they had swiftly become disenchanted and left.