UK man convicted for planning IS-style attacks

Judges at a London court on Friday convicted Junead Ahmed Khan of preparing an act of terrorism and planning to travel to Syria to join the jihadist group "Islamic State" (IS). Sentencing was scheduled to take place on May 13 with a maximum term of life imprisonment.

Khan worked for a pharmaceutical firm as a driver and was arrested last July. He used his job as a cover to scout US Air Force bases in Britain.

Khan was also in touch with IS fighter Abu Hussain, who prosecutors claimed was the British-born Junead Hussain. Hussain was later killed in a drone strike in the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria. Khan told Hussain he wanted to stage an attack similar to the one on British soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death by Islamists on a London street in 2013.

Khan exchanged online messages with the IS fighter in Syria, discussing attacks on military personnel after faking a road accident. Police also discovered an IS-style black flag in Khan's home and a laptop with an article from an al Qaeda magazine called "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

"Through early detection and prosecution of these individuals, more serious crimes have been avoided which could have had devastating consequences in the UK or Syria," prosecutor Sue Hemming told the court.

Khan's 23-year-old uncle, Shazib Ahmed Khan, was also convicted of planning to join IS militants in Syria.

mg/tj (AFP, AP)