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DUESSELDORF, Germany -- A Jordanian man who claims he was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard was questioned by U.S. officials who are considering having him testify at the Virginia trial of terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, the man's attorney said Thursday. Shadi Abdellah, 28, sentenced last November to four years in prison for helping plan terror attacks in Germany, was granted early release last month after serving more than half the time, including in pretrial custody. While in prison, he served as a government witness in several trials, including that of his alleged co-plotters in the German cell of the Tawhid and...

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden told his followers in early 2000 to "pray for your brothers" because an attack was in the offing, a witness told a German court on Wednesday. Shadi Abdellah, who claims to have been briefly a bodyguard for Bin Laden, said he heard the Al-Qaeda mastermind speak while he was undergoing military training at a camp in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, in spring 2000. "Pray for your brothers, there will be an attack," he quoted Bin Laden as saying. Abdellah said it was not explained when, where or how the attack would take place. Al-Qaeda is blamed...

DUESSELDORF, Germany - A German investigator testified Friday that authorities identified al-Qaida links to the leader of a German-based terrorist cell, but could not back U.S. claims that the man was also in contact with Saddam Hussein. Testifying at the trial of Shadi Abdellah, accused of plotting attacks in Germany for the radical Palestinian group Al Tawhid, federal agent Manfred Ehlenz said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of the group and also believed to be the "leader of a wing within al-Qaida." In his February speech to the U.N. Security Council U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said al-Zarqawi...

<p>July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network are living in a number of German cities, a Jordanian terror suspect told a court hearing, DPA reported.</p> <p>The terrorists are living in Duisburg, Cologne, Krefeld and Haan, all cities in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, DPA cited Shadi Moh'd Mustafa Abdellah as telling a court in Dusseldorf today.</p>

DÜSSELDORF - A radical Palestinian group plotted to attack the Jewish Museum in Berlin and a Jewish-owned disco in Düsseldorf last year, a Jordanian terror suspect testified at his trial Friday. The suspect, Shadi Abdellah, 26, told a state court in Düsseldorf that the buildings were studied before his arrest in April 2002, but that no decision had been made on when to carry out attacks. "We hadn't yet decided whether we would do it with a car bomb or some other way," he added. Abdellah was among nine people detained by the German authorities on suspicion of plotting attacks...

DUESSELDORF: A Jordanian terror suspect told his trial Wednesday that he served for two weeks as a bodyguard of Osama bin Laden at an Afghan residence of the al-Qaeda leader, but said the group for which he allegedly helped plot attacks in Germany was independent. Shadi Abdellah, 26, said he moved to the bin Laden residence, close to the airport in Kandahar, for treatment after being injured during a fall during military training in early 2000 at a nearby al-Qaeda camp. Abdellah, a tall, bearded man said he was drafted in to augment bin Laden's security amid fears that infiltrators...

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- A Jordanian accused of helping plot terror attacks by a radical Palestinian network went on trial in Germany on Tuesday accused of membership in a group that supports al-Qaida. Shadi Abdellah, 26, who has said he served briefly as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard at a camp in Afghanistan, was among nine alleged extremists detained across Germany in April 2002 on suspicion of plotting imminent attacks. He is charged with belonging to a terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and forging passports. Prosecutors allege the German cell was acting under...