Al Qaida trainee guilty

last updated 8 January 2015

Buffalo

Two of the six Yemeni-American men suspected of operating a terrorist cell in Lackawanna, N.Y., pleaded guilty this week to supporting al Qaida. A third man entered a guilty plea in January. Yahya Goba, 26, and Shafal Mosed, 24, admitted they trained with guns and grenade launchers at an al Qaida camp in Afghanistan shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks. “It was a stupid thing to do,” Mosed’s lawyer said, “but he’s not a terrorist.” Prosecutors said the so-called Lackawanna Six may have been awaiting orders to launch an attack, although there was no evidence that they posed an imminent threat. Mosed, who once heard Osama bin Laden mention “about 50 men who were on a suicide mission,” agreed to testify against the remaining suspects. He and Goba were expected to serve up to 10 years in prison.