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Ohio Man Pleads Guilty To Trying To Help ISIS

Kaylee Greenlee 

An Iraqi-born Ohio man pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide support to ISIS and ISIS-K, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.

Naser Almadaoji, 22, of Beavercreek, Ohio, bought a plane ticket for Oct. 24, 2018, and was arrested after checking in for his flight and getting a boarding pass, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Almadaoji planned to fly to Astana, Kazakhstan, where he’d be smuggled into Afghanistan and then trained by ISIS-K.

Almadaoji said he wanted “weapons experts training, planning and executing, hit and run, capturing high value targets, ways to break into homes and avoid security guards. That type of training,” from someone he believed to be an ISIS supporter, according to the DOJ.

Almadaoji started planning his travels in September 2018 and previously traveled to Egypt and Jordan to join the ISIS affiliate group ISIS Wilayat Sinai, but was unsuccessful, according to the DOJ.

He asked someone posing as an ISIS supporter online how to make a car bomb and told them he wanted to start a conflict between anti-government militias and the U.S. federal government, according to the DOJ. Almadaoji also told the purported ISIS supporter he was “always willing” to help with “projects” in the U.S.

Almadaoji recorded himself pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS and translated one of the terror organization’s Arabic documents to English, according to the DOJ. He told a point of contact he thought to be part of ISIS, “don’t thank me … it’s my duty.”

He’s scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 31 and faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the DOJ.

ISIS-K is an affiliate of ISIS that first emerged in Pakistan around 2015 and is made up of militants from other Pakistani groups including the Taliban, CBS News reported. ISIS-K militants generally believe the Taliban is impure and not extremist enough, the “K” stands for the Khorasan province in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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