Jose Padilla, a US citizen suspected of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in the United States, faces charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas and providing material support to terrorists abroad, according to an indictment released Tuesday.

The 11-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the US District Court in Miami, Florida.

"The defendants, along with other individuals, operated and participated in a North American support cell that sent money, physical assets and mujahideen recruits to overseas conflicts for the purposes of fighting a violent jihad," the indictment said.

The charges against him and four others however did not include the administration's earlier allegation that he planned to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" device in the United States.

Padilla, a former gang member in Chicago and Muslim convert, was arrested in 2002 after returning from Pakistan and has been held under Defense Department custody in a South Carolina military brig for three years as an "enemy combatant."

Source: Xinhua