UNITED STATES—The United States Department of Justice reported that Canadian citizen, Faruq Kalil Muhammed ‘Isa was sentenced for his role in the conspiracy and bombing of five U.S. soldiers who were killed while serving in Iraq in April 2009.
‘Isa was sentenced to 26 years in prison which includes a lifetime of supervision upon release by U.S. District Judge, Roslynn R. Mauskopf.
In March 2018, ‘Isa reportedly pled guilty to the charge of conspiring to commit the murder of the American soldiers. The courts filed a Judicial Order for his removal from Canada to be tried in the case.
Assistant Attorney General of National Security John C. Demers along with U.S. Attorney, Richard P. Donoghue of New York’s Eastern District, Assistant Director in-Charge, William F. Sweeney Jr., from the FBI’s field office, and James P. O’Neill of the New York City Police Department announced the news.
Court documents indicate ‘Isa is a member of a multinational terrorist network that conducted suicide bombings in Iraq. The terrorist plot was carried out on April 10, 2009, when the network organized an attack on the U.S. military’s forward operating base Marez, in Mosul, Iraq.
A truckload of explosives was driven into the military base and its occupants began to exchange fire with the Iraqi authorities guarding the gate at FOB, Marez, and with a convoy of American Soldiers leaving the base. The truck detonated leaving a 60-foot crater in the region and killed five soldiers.
According to Canadian Common Sense, the defendant communicated with Syria and the Iraq-based members of the facilitation network, and other individuals who conducted the attack in 2009. ‘Isa knowingly undertook efforts to assist the prospective suicide bombers to achieve their desired result by suggesting a contact to facilitate travel for the would-be-attackers from Syria to Iraq, as well as by offering words of encouragement and “religious guidance.”
He has been incarcerated since his extradition from Canada in January 2015.
