Sweden: Two Somali 'jihadists' charged over plot

Somali government soldier takes position during clashes with Islamist insurgents in southern Mogadishu's Taleh neighborhood , Somalia, Friday Oct. 15 2010

Gothenburg, 15 Oct. (AKI) - Two Al-Qaeda-linked Swedish jihadists of Somali origins were charged with plotting a terrorist attack on Friday, Swedish prosecutors said. The two suspects were charged at a court in Swedens' southern city of Gothenburg.

The suspects, aged 22 and 26 are allegedly associates of the Al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab.

A Somali boy chases another group of children as they drag the body of an alleged Somali government soldier that was killed in fighting between extremist hardline islamic militias and Somali government forces in Mogadishu on October 6, 2010.

The group is waging an insurgency against the interim government in Somalia and controls controls most of southern and central Somalia.

The plot involved suicide attacks in Somalia, with the aim of "murder" or "maiming" a large number of people and causing "massive damage to property," the charge sheet said.

Prosecutors said the plot was at an early stage but there was a "significant danger" the attacks would be carried out.

The two suspects were in contact with Al-Shabab leader Yassin Ismail Ahmed, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors are basing their case on numerous intercepted phone conversations, interrogations of the two suspects, and statements from witnesses.

The phone taps also showed that one of the suspects attended an Al-Shabab training camp in Somalia and planned to return there and " become a martyr".

The second suspect was preparing for a future suicide mission, according to prosecutors.

One suspect was arrested in Gothenburg in May and the other in the Swedish capital Stockholm in June.