Washington: In the first case of its kind in the US involving Kashmir, a US court has sentenced three American members of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), including a Pakistani-born American citizen, for plotting 'jihad' in the Valley.

The three have been sentenced by a Virginia court to prison terms ranging from 3 to 11 years following guilty pleas in August to conspiracy and weapons charges to escape harsher sentence. The Pakistani Khwaja Mahmood Hasan had visited Lashkar's terror camps in Pakistan to train for their mission to "drive India out of Kashmir."

US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria on November 9, sentenced Yong Ki Kwon (27), a naturalised U.S. citizen of Fairfax, Khwaja Mahmood Hasan (27), a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen who lived in Alexandria, and Donald T. Surratt (30), a former US soldier of Suitland.

The three men were among 11 named in a 41-count indictment handed up in June in a conspiracy to "prepare for and engage in violent jihad" against foreign targets. Nine of the 11 were identified as US citizens.

A fourth person, Mohammed Aatiq, a Pakistani national living in Pennsylvania, has also pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced in December.

Hasan and Kwon could have received life sentences, while Surratt faced up to 15 years. All three have agreed to co-operate with authorities in the Government's ongoing investigation.

PTI