Arrest of an American soldier accused of jihadist sympathies

A young American soldier was arrested on Tuesday for trying to help the Islamic State (IS) organization attack American soldiers in the Middle East and iconic New York places, including the memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, has indicated the Manhattan federal prosecutor.

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Cole James Bridges, 20, from Ohio, joined the military in September 2019 and reportedly started following jihadist propaganda that year, and expressing sympathies on social media, according to one press release from the prosecutor.

In October 2020 - while briefly based in Germany - he bites the hook of an FBI agent claiming to be an IS sympathizer in connection with jihadist fighters in the Middle East, and begins communicating with him by line, according to the lawsuit filed against him in Manhattan federal court.

Through this agent, he gives advice to so-called jihadist fighters, including advice on potential targets in New York, including the memorial to the victims of 9/11, erected on the site of the World Trade Center towers, reduced in ashes during the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to the prosecutor's office.

It also provides them with instructions on how to attack US servicemen deployed in the Middle East, showing them maneuvers designed to

and extracts from a military manual, the statement said.

Finally, this month, he forwards two videos to the FBI agent in which he is seen in front of an ISIS flag and giving a speech in support of an ISIS attack on the US military.

"He betrayed his country and his unit by conspiring with someone he took to be an IS sympathizer

,

said William Sweeney, an FBI official in New York.

The young soldier, who was due to be brought before a federal judge in Georgia on Thursday, has been charged with material support for a foreign terrorist organization and attempted murder of members of the US military, two counts which put him at risk each up to 20 years in prison.