WASHINGTON - A US-BORN member of Al-Qaeda was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to bomb targets in Europe and the United States, the Justice Department said.

Christopher Paul, also known as Abdul Malek, was sentenced by a federal judge in Ohio following a plea deal in which the government dropped charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide the support.

Paul pled guilty to a single count of 'conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives).' 'His lengthy prison term demonstrates our continuing resolve to protect the American public against terrorism,' said acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen in a statement.

He said the sentence ended 'the long, militant career of Christopher Paul, an Ohio native who joined Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s, fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia and conspired with others to target Americans both at home and abroad.'

Paul, 44, admitted to providing explosives training in 1999 to an Islamic cell in Germany that was planning to build bombs, car bombs and other explosive devices to attack Americans vacationing abroad, the Justice Department said.

The cell also planned to use bombs against Americans in the United States, and against US embassies, diplomatic premises and military bases in Europe, the Justice Department said.

On returning to Columbus, Ohio, he had a printer/scanner sent to a member of the German cell to make fake travel documents, wired money to a member of the group, and bought night vision equipment and a laser range finder, it said.

According to the Justice Department, Paul was trained in Afghanistan in the early 1990s in the use of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and small unit tactics.

It said he joined Al-Qaeda after undergoing the training and was given advanced training in explosives. After fighting in Afghanistan, he returned to Ohio where he began recruiting individuals for a jihadist group. Between 1993 and 1995, he made his way to the Balkans under assumed names, and fought in Bosnia.

In 1997, he received a fax from two al-Qaeda members urging him to find them a 'true group and place to make jihad,' according to the Justice Department. -- AFP