UK man jailed for IS-inspired plot to attack US troops

Juneau Khan. Image credit: Associated Press.

LONDON (AP) — A British delivery driver was sentenced Friday to at least 12 years in prison for a jihadi-inspired plot to attack American military personnel in England.

A judge said Junead Khan was a “committed supporter” of the Islamic State group and planned to kill air force personnel using a knife and potentially a bomb.

The 25-year-old’s work for a pharmaceutical firm took him past U.S. air bases in eastern England, and prosecutors said he discussed ways of targeting them with an IS militant in Syria.

The pair discussed faking a road accident and then attacking military personnel in imitation of the murder of Lee Rigby. Rigby was a British soldier who was run down by a car and stabbed to death by two al-Qaida-inspired attackers in 2013.

Khan — who had been visited in 2014 by police who tried to dissuade him from extremism — was arrested in July. When police raided his home, they found an IS-style black flag and a laptop containing an article from an al-Qaida magazine entitled “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.”

A jury convicted Khan last month. Passing sentence Friday at Kingston Crown Court, Judge Andrew Edis said Khan planned a “horrifying” murder “in order to create terror and terrorist propaganda in this country.”

The judge handed down a life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 12 years.

Khan and his 23-year-old uncle, Shazib Khan, were also convicted of preparing to join IS militants in Syria. Shazib Khan was told he would have to serve at least eight years before being considered for parole.

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