A father, his two sons and four other North Carolina men are accused of military-style training at home and plotting "violent jihad" through a series of terror attacks abroad, federal authorities said.
Officials said the group was led by Daniel Patrick Boyd, a married 39-year-old who lived in an unassuming lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, where he and his family walked their dog and operated a drywall business.
But two decades ago, Boyd, who is a US citizen, trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought against the Soviets for three years before returning to the United States.
An indictment released on Monday does not detail any specific terrorist plans or targets overseas, although it claims some of the defendants travelled to Israel in 2007 with the intent of waging "violent jihad" and returned home without success.
"These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home," US Attorney George Holding said.
He would not give details of the alleged plots beyond what was in a news release and indictment.
The seven men made their first court appearances in Raleigh on Monday, charged with providing material support to terrorism.
If convicted, they could face life in prison.
In 1991, Boyd and his brother were convicted of bank robbery in Pakistan -- accused of carrying identification showing they belonged to the radical Afghan guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or Party of Islam.
Each was sentenced to have a foot and a hand cut off for the robbery, but the decision was later overturned. Their wives said at the time that the couples had US roots but the United States was a country of "kafirs" - Arabic for heathens.
