Terror suspects face new charges

RALEIGH -- Federal prosecutors say two men indicted as suspects in a Raleigh-area terrorist ring were making plans to attack and kill Marines at a military base in Quantico, Va.

Daniel Boyd, 39, the suspected ringleader of the group, and Hysen Sherifi, 24, a Kosovan immigrant who legally relocated to the Raleigh area, have been indicted on new charges of conspiring to murder U.S. military personnel at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico, according to a news release issued Thursday by the U.S. District Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Thursday's indictment marks the first time federal prosecutors have accused the men of having specific targets within the United States.

The superseding indictment is in addition to federal indictments issued in July, charging the men with conspiring to provide support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people abroad.

Calls seeking comment from lawyers representing Boyd and Sherifi were not immediately returned

The news release from U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding's office says Boyd conducted reconnaissance of the Marine base and got maps of the base "in order to plan an attack." The actual indictment was not available Thursday.

"These additional charges hammer home the grim reality that today's homegrown terrorists are not limiting their violent plans to locations overseas, but instead are willing to set their sights on American citizens and American targets, right here at home," Holding said. Quantico, in addition to the estimated 16,000 people who live and work on the military base, is home to the FBI's research and training facilities.

The men were arrested in July along with five others and accused of plotting to travel overseas to wage what prosecutors described as "violent jihad." All seven -- Boyd; Sherifi; Anes Subasic, 33; Zakariya Boyd, 20; Dylan Boyd, 22; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22; and Ziyad Yaghi, 21 -- face life sentences if they're convicted of the charges of conspiracy to take part in a terrorist plot.

An eighth man, Jude Kenan Mohammad, 20, is wanted by federal officials in connection with the Raleigh-area group but is thought to be in Pakistan.

Relatives of several of the arrested men have said the men are innocent and accused federal prosecutors of unfairly ensnaring the younger men while focusing in on Boyd, a charismatic Johnston County man also known as Saifullah, or "sword of God."

FBI agents found gas masks, 26 guns and 27,000 rounds of ammunition in Boyd's Willow Spring truck and house following his arrest.

New weapons charge

Boyd, Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd, one of Daniel Boyd's two sons, were also charged Thursday with possessing a weapon with the intention of committing a "crime of violence," according to the news release. Specific information about the new weapons charge was not made available by federal prosecutors.

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