A former Russian tank commander faces life in prison after being convicted on Friday by a U.S. court of conspiring to aid terrorists.
Irek Ilgiz Hamidullin, 55, was found guilty of “conspiring to shoot down American helicopters and to kill U.S. and Afghan soldiers [and] conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction” relating to an attack he led on U.S. and Afghan forces in Afghanistan in November 2009, the Justice Department stated.
The military captured Hamidullin in Afghanistan and brought him to the United States for trial. He was indicted in 2014 and will be sentenced Nov. 6.
Hamidullin led a Taliban- and Haqqani Network-approved assault on U.S. and Afghan forces stationed at Camp Leyza in Khost province on Nov. 28. After the unsuccessful raid, his men retreated to Pakistan. En route, U.S. and Afghan forces killed 20 of them. Hamidullin was found hiding near the attack site and was wounded and captured.
