War On Terror: Al-Qaeda Militant Who Killed 2 Americans Given Life Sentence By US Court

A Nigerian national and confessed Al Qaeda member was found guilty Thursday by a U.S. federal court Thursday for participating in a 2003 attack in Afghanistan that killed two U.S. servicemen and for conspiring to bomb a U.S. embassy in West Africa in 2005.

Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun, 46, who joined al-Qaeda weeks before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, made it his life mission to kill U.S. soldiers on behalf of high-ranking al-Qaeda officials, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, said.

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Harun was not present in court for his sentencing Thursday and was largely defiant throughout his trial, according to reports, claiming that he was a “warrior” who should have been tried in a military tribunal rather than through criminal proceedings in a U.S. court. This was highlighted by an incident just before Harun’s court hearing in May in which he struggled with U.S. marshals and tore off his clothes in an attempt to avoid the legal proceeding.

After receiving extensive arms training by al-Qaeda, Harun took part in an attack on U.S. troops along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2003 that killed Army Private 1st Class Jerod Dennis, 19, and Air Force Airman 1st Class Raymond Losano, 24. Though Harun managed to escape across into Pakistan after the deadly attack, a small Koran with Harun's fingerprints was recovered near the scene.

Harun then moved to Nigeria, where he was instrumental in plans to bomb the U.S. there before he was captured in Libya in 2005. He told the Libyan authorities who captured him that the thwarted bombing would have been "superior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack." Harun was extradited to the U.S. in October 2012, where he was charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, conspiracy to attack a government facility and provision of material support to al-Qaeda by an American court.

The U.S. Justice Department announced its first ever extradition request to the Jordanian government Tuesday, seeking a Hamas terrorist who killed a U.S. citizen for trial in an American court, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. The request called for the extradition of Jordanian TV personality, Ahlam Tamimi, who became the symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli rule in 2001 when she planned a suicide bombing at a restaurant in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people, including seven children, a pregnant woman and an American.