Dutch suspected of terrorism to make confession in the US

Wesam al-D, a Dutch man accused of planting roadside bombs to kill American troops, is expected to plead guilty in the first case against an alleged insurgent from the Iraq war prosecuted in the United States. His lawyer Vincent Koppe said he will enter the plea at a Washington federal court Thursday.

Al-D. (36), who was born in Iraq, travelled to his homeland after the US invasion. He and his fellow 'Mujahedeen from Fallujah' videotaped themselves planting remote-control explosives along a road used by U.S. troops. The explosives resulted in no deaths.

The video was widely shown on Arabic television stations and was seized by police who raided al-D's house in Amersfoort in May 2005. He was extradited to the United States in early 2007 after an agreement that said he would be tried in federal court and not by a military commission such as those set up for terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US authorities also agreed that he will be allowed to serve his sentence in the Netherlands.

Wesam al-D. has consistently said he went to Fallujah to get married. He has claimed he is innocent, saying he was forced to make the video after being kidnapped and beaten. He said he feared being beheaded if he resisted.