A US citizen in Columbus, Ohio, has been charged with plotting terror attacks and training with Al Qaeda (since 1999): Columbus man charged with joining al-Qaeda, alleged bomb plot. (Hat tip: ronaldusmagnus.)

COLUMBUS - A federal grand jury indicted a U.S. citizen on charges of joining al-Qaeda and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas.

Christopher Paul, 43, of Columbus, trained with al-Qaeda in the early 1990s, the indictment issued Wednesday says. The indictment says he told al-Qaeda members in Pakistan and Afghanistan that he was dedicated to committing violent jihad. Paul is charged with providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide support to terrorists and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. …

The indictment says Paul traveled to Germany about April 1999 to train co-conspirators to use explosives to attack European and U.S. targets, including government buildings and vacation spots frequented by American tourists. It does not address specific resorts or buildings that might have been targeted, but it gives U.S. embassies, military bases and consular premises in Europe as examples.

Paul later sent a wire transfer of $1,760 from a financial institution in the U.S. to an alleged co-conspirator in Germany, prosecutors allege. A fax machine in his home contained names, phone numbers and contact information for key al-Qaeda leadership and associates, according to the indictment.

Paul also is accused of storing material at his father’s house in Columbus, including a book on improvised land mines, money from countries in the Middle East and a letter to his parents explaining that he would be ”on the front lines,” according to the indictment. …

Paul was born Paul Kenyatta Laws. He legally changed his name to Abdulmalek Kenyatta in 1989, then to Christopher Paul in 1994, according to the indictment. After finishing his al-Qaeda training in the early 1990s, he returned to Columbus to teach martial arts at a mosque, the indictment said.