New York tunnel plot suspect charged in Lebanon

BEIRUT, July 10 (Reuters) A Lebanese suspected of plotting to bomb a rail tunnel in New York was charged in connection with the case in Beirut last May, judicial sources said today.

U S authorities said on Friday they had thwarted a plot to attack the PATH rail system that links Manhattan and New Jersey under the Hudson river.

The sources said military prosecutors had accused Assem Hammoud of ''forming a gang with the aim of launching terrorist attacks.'' Lebanon's Interior Ministry said the 31-year-old suspect, arrested in Beirut in April, had confessed he was planning to spend four months training in Pakistan before launching the attack late in 2006.

The plot, uncovered by monitoring Internet chat rooms, was at the planning stage, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said.

Hammoud's family has denied he was involved in such a plot.

Judicial sources said five other unidentified suspects were also charged, but declined to elaborate. If convicted, Hammoud could go to prison for life.

Reuters KD DB1907