NJ men plead guilty in terror case

NEWARK - Two New Jersey men pleaded guilty to charges that they conspired to join an al-Qaida-affiliated group overseas with the purpose of killing those who did not agree with their extremist ideology.

Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, known as Omar, entered into a packaged plea deal in a Newark federal courtroom Thursday.

They each pleaded guilty to an information count charging them with conspiring within the United States to murder individuals outside the U.S. by trying to join al-Shabab, a designated terrorist organization.

The two were arrested in June at Kennedy Airport as they prepared to board separate planes to Egypt. From there, the men admitted , they had planned to travel to Somalia to seek terror training from al-Qaida-affiliated jihadists.

Alessa, 21, of North Bergen, was born in the United States and is the son of Palestinian immigrants. Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, is a naturalized citizen who was born in the Dominican Republic. Both are Muslim.

The charge each pleaded to could carry up to life in prison, but they face 15 to 30 years under the terms of the plea agreement. The men remain in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. - AP