Iraqi-Canadian faces 27 years in prison for fatal attack on US base in Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Iraqi-Canadian man has pled guilty to helping to orchestrate a suicide truck-bomb attack at a US forward-operating base in Mosul that killed five soldiers in 2009.

Faruq Khalil Muhammed 'Isa pleaded guilty to a US federal court in New York to one count of conspiring to murder Americans.

"We are mindful of how difficult this case is for so many, but think that the proposed plea agreement would be an appropriate resolution of the case," stated his attorney, Mildred Whalen.

He also faced murder and support-of-terrorist charges.

If Isa, 50, had gone to trial, his charges carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Instead, he faces 26 years in prison, and then deportation, if the judge signs off on the plea agreement.

Prosecutors met with the families of the victims before the plea, according to Assistant US Attorney Peter Baldwin.

The federal government believes the sentence "will serve to punish [the defendant] and deter others, while also requiring the defendant to admit his participation in these heinous acts."

Isa is an Iraqi national and Canadian citizen. He was arrested in 2011 on a US warrant after a joint investigation by Canada, the United States, and Tunisia.

Isa was held in Edmonton, Canada, until losing an extradition hearing in 2015.

The evidence presented in the extradition proceedings cited wiretap evidence of an interview by Isa, allegedly linking him to Tunisian "terrorists." The terror group used a suicide bomber to kill five soldiers at a US forward operating base on April 10, 2009.

Isa asked in an electronic communication, "Did you hear about the huge incident yesterday? Is it known?" He also identified the bomber as "one of the Tunisian brothers," to which a facilitator responded, "Praise God," alleged US authorities.

Isa has claimed by "huge incident" he meant an explosion.

The US federal court in New York has not set a sentencing date.