A soldier in the U.S. Army National Guard and his cousin have been charged with forming a plan to fight for the Islamic State terrorist group in the Middle East and kill dozens at a U.S. military installation.

Hasan Edmonds, 22, was taken into custody at Chicago’s Midway Airport late Wednesday before boarding a flight to Egypt, and Jonas Edmonds, 29, was arrested at his home.  Both men are U.S. citizens from the Midwestern city of Aurora, Illinois.

The alleged plan was for Jonas Edmonds to wear his cousin’s uniforms and to carry out an attack in the U.S. after Hasan Edmonds left the country to join the Islamic State. Jonas Edmonds would attack a U.S. military installation in northern Illinois where his cousin had trained.

In Internet messages to an undercover FBI agent in January, Hasan Edmonds said that if he was unable to make it to the Middle East, he would help bring “the flames of war to the heart” of America and “cause as much damage and mayhem as possible,” a federal complaint says.

The two men were charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Their lawyers did not comment after an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
…