[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced [press release] Thursday that a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] has returned a five-count superseding indictment [text, PDF] against suspected terrorists Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay. The men, both US citizens, have been charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and commit murder in the US, and providing material support to and receiving training from al Qaeda in connection with a plot to detonate explosives in the New York City subway system. Ahmedzay faces an additional count of making false statements in a terrorism investigation. Both men were arrested last month, and Medunjanin has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to similar charges. Two of the counts carry possible sentences of life in prison. Both pleaded not guilty to the new charges on Friday.

Medunjanin and Ahmedzay are suspected of operating in conjunction with Najibullah Zazi, a native of Afghanistan arrested [BBC report] by FBI agents in Colorado last fall. The three allegedly traveled together [Reuters report] to Pakistan in 2008 to receive al Qaeda training. Zazi pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to three criminal charges earlier this week, including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in the US and to commit murder in a foreign country, as well as providing material support for al-Qaeda. He faces up to life in prison for two of the counts, and 15 years in prison for the third.