Los Angeles:  A member of a radical Islamic group accused of plotting to attack US military, Israeli and Jewish facilities in California was sentenced to 22 years in prison, justice officials said.

Levar Washington, 30,who pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to wage war against the United States and a weapons charge, received his prison sentence during a hearing at Santa Ana.

Two other defendants in the case Kevin James, who formed the group Jam iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, while in a California state prison, and Gregory Patterson also pleaded guilty last year.

Patterson is set to be sentenced on July 9,and James is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2009. A fourth man named in the indictment Hammad Samana was declared unfit to stand trial and is in psychiatric care.

"The JIS terrorist group posed a significant threat of violent action against a variety of targets," US Attorney Thomas O Brien said in a statement. "Now, one of the members of this terrorism cell will not pose a danger to the United States for nearly a quarter century."

Justice officials said although there was no evidence of any links to Al-Qaeda or other foreign Islamic extremist groups, the accused men had adopted their cause.

Prosecutors said James founded JIS in 1997 while in prison and enlisted Washington in late 2004. Washington then recruited Patterson and Samana upon his release.

While Washington and Samana carried out a string of armed robberies on gas stations to raise funds for the group, Samana began choosing targets which included Los Angeles International Airport and the Israeli Consulate as well as army recruitment centres.

Source : PTI