Four charged with plotting terror attacks in L.A

[darrels joy]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The imprisoned founder of a radical Islamic group and his three followers were indicted on Wednesday for plotting attacks on Los Angeles-area military facilities and synagogues, the Israeli consulate and El Al airlines, authorities said.

The four men had purchased firearms with silencers, investigated making bombs and were ready to carry out attacks when two of them were caught robbing a gas station to fund the operation, U.S. Attorney Debra Yang told a news conference in Los Angeles.

"The evidence in this case indicates that the conspirators were on the verge of launching their attack," she said, adding that the arrest had exposed "a chilling plot based on one man's interpretation of Islam."

She declined to elaborate on the timing or nature of the attack but said it could have included "shooting up military facilities" or bombing a synagogue and may have been planned to coincide with the Jewish holidays in October.

"Had these four defendants succeeded in their alleged plots, their attacks would have taken an untold number of Americans," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a separate news briefing in Washington.

Prosecutors say Kevin James, a 29-year-old gang member from Los Angeles who was serving time for attempted robbery and possessing a weapon in prison, had formed the radical organization Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh at a California correctional facility in the late 1990s and preached violence against the United States and Israel.

James distributed to other prisoners a document setting forth his teachings on Islam, including the justification for killing nonbelievers, and recruited fellow inmate Levar Washington in November of 2004, the indictment said.

When Washington, 25, was released from a California prison a short time later, the indictment charges, he recruited his roommate Gregory Patterson and a friend, Hammad Samana, both 21, to the cause. The four men allegedly researched possible targets -- including military facilities, synagogues, the Israeli consulate and El Al airlines.

The men robbed 11 gas stations across Southern California beginning in May to fund their operation, prosecutors say. When they were caught after the final robbery, authorities say, police conducted a search and discovered the list of potential targets and evidence of the larger plot.

The four men each face life in prison if convicted.