A US soldier pleaded guilty to attempting to advise the Islamic State on how to ambush and kill American soldiers, the US Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
Private Cole Bridges, 22, began his service in the US Army in 2019 around the same time that he began to consume online jihadist propaganda. Bridges soon expressed his support for Islamic State on social media.
In 2020, Bridges started to communicate with an FBI operative posing as an Islamic State member in contact with fighters in the Middle East. Over a few months, Bridges provided manuals, instruction and advice on how to best fight and ambush American soldiers. Bridges created videos of himself in US military gear in front of the ISIS flag.
Bridges's sentencing is set for November, and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for seeking to support a terrorist organization, and another maximum of 20 years for attempting to murder fellow US servicemen.