Four men sentenced in Germany for plotting terror attacks

A German court sentenced four men Thursday to various jail terms for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Germany, media reported.

The Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf found that Dusseldorf cell group, named after the German city where three of the defendants lived, had planned a series of bomb attacks on the orders of al Qaeda leadership, but had not yet decided on a specific target, Xinhua reported.

According to media reports, police arrested three of the men in April 2011 and the fourth man in December, after months of surveillance.

Within weeks of the April arrests, US Navy Seals shot dead Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and took away communications material, some of which reportedly further implicated the German group.

The group leader, 33-year-old Abdelabdim El-K, a Moroccan citizen, was sentenced to nine years in jail for planning attacks and being a member of a terrorist group.

Prosecutors said he had received orders from a senior Al Qaeda operative to build a group for conducting attacks in Germany after a training in a terrorist camp.

Also for membership in a terrorist group, the dual German Moroccan national Jamil S., 34, received seven years, and 23-year- old dual German Iranian national Amid C. was sentenced to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment.

German Halil S., 30, received a four-and-a-half-year prison term for supporting a terrorist group.