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ByColleenLong The Associated Press NEW YORK Three men were arrested Wednesday on charges of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Is- lamic State group and wage war against the United States, and federal officials said one of them spoke of shooting President Barack Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island. Akhror Saidakhmetov was arrested at Kennedy Airport, where he was at- tempting to board a flight to Istanbul, authorities said. Abdurasul Hasanov- ich Juraboev had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month and was arrested in Brooklyn, federal prosecu- tors said. The two were held without bail after a brief court appearance. A third defendant, Abror Habibov, is accused of help- ing fund Saidakhmetov's ef- forts and was ordered held without bail in Florida. The three are charged with attempt and conspir- acy to provide material support to a terrorist or- ganization. If convicted, each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. "This is real," New York Police Department Com- missioner William Brat- ton said. "This is the con- cern about the lone wolf, in- spired to act without ever going to the Mideast." The Department of Jus- tice has charged roughly 20 people in the past year with planning to travel to the Middle East to fight alongside militants like the Islamic State group. Fed- eral officials have been con- cerned about Americans go- ing overseas to train with these groups and returning with plots to carry out at- tacks at home. Federal prosecutors say Juraboev, 24, first came to the attention of law en- forcement in August, when he posted on an Uzbek-lan- guage website that propa- gates the Islamic State ide- ology. "Greetings! We too want to pledge our allegiance and commit ourselves while not present there," he wrote, ac- cording to federal authori- ties. "Is it possible to com- mit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? "What I'm saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels." Officials said they be- lieved he planned to travel from Turkey to Syria to join the terror group. Prosecu- tors say Saidakhmetov, 19, also threatened an attack in the U.S. if he was unable to join the Islamic State. Juraboev's plans included attacks against Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island, officials said. Federal officials say Jura- boev identified Saidakhme- tov as a friend with a shared ideology. The two exchanged messages on how to get over- seas, and Saidakhmetov and an informant watched vid- eos of Islamic State training camps in Syria, according to court papers. Saidakhmetov told the informant in September that he wanted to travel to Syria for jihad, or holy war, but that his con- cerned mother confiscated his passport so he couldn't travel, the complaint said. He said he would lie and tell her he planned to go to Uz- bekistan to visit relatives. When he called to ask for his passport back, she hung up the phone. "The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies," said state U.S. Attorney Lo- retta Lynch, who is Obama's choice to be U.S. attorney general. Saidakhmetov's attorney, Adam Perlmutter, said his client was a "young, inno- cent kid" who would plead not guilty. "This is the type of case that highlights everything that is wrong with how the Justice Department ap- proaches these cases," Perl- mutter said. Juraboev's attorney had no immediate comment. Saidakhmetov booked a flight to Turkey on Feb. 19 and seemed like just an- other "regular American teenager," said workers who helped him at Nil Travel in Coney Island. "He was just like any- one around us. He was to- tally normal. He wasn't ner- vous," said assistant man- ager Frank Cakir. "It's just scary." Cakir said Saidakhme- tov asked for the least ex- pensive flight to Turkey and paid $571 by credit card for a round-trip ticket. CONSPIRACY CHARGES 3 in New York, Florida accused of plot to join Islamic State group BEBETOMATTHEWS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A Homeland Security police officer, le , joins a Federal Court policeman, right, as security is enhanced during the arraignment of two men on terrorism related charges, Wednesday in Brooklyn, N.Y. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In this image posted on a militant social media account by the Al-Baraka division of the Islamic State group on Tuesday a militant fighter aims a sniper rifle during fighting in Tal Tamr, Hassakeh province, Syria. By Zeina Karam The Associated Press BEIRUT Islamic State mil- itants have moved a large group of Christians they abducted to one of their strongholds as fighting raged on Wednesday be- tween the extremists and Kurdish and Christian militiamen for control of a chain of villages along a strategic river in north- eastern Syria, activists and state-run media said. The Khabur River in Hassakeh province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. It is pre- dominantly Kurdish but also has populations of Arabs and predominantly Christian Assyrians and Armenians. In pre-dawn attacks, the IS on Monday attacked communities nestled along the river, seizing at least 70 people, including many women and children. Thou- sands of others fled to safer areas. The fate of those kid- napped, almost all of them Assyrian Christians, re- mained unclear Wednes- day, two days after they were seized. Relatives of the group searched frantically for word on the fate of the loved ones, but none came. "It's a tragedy ... It is true what they say: history repeats itself," said You- nan Talia, a high ranking official with the Assyrian Democratic Organization who spoke to The Associ- ated Press from Hassakeh. He was referring to the 1933 massacre by Iraqi gov- ernment forces of Assyr- ians in Simele, a town in northern Iraq, after which the community fled to the Khabur region, and massa- cres against Armenian and Assyrian Christians under the Ottoman empire. State-run SANA news agency and the Assyr- ian Network for Human Rights in Syria said the hostages have been moved to the Islamic State-con- trolled city of Shaddadeh, south of the city of Has- sakeh. The United States and a coalition of regional partners are conducting a campaign of airstrikes against the group. "In addition to its strat- egy of terrifying people, taking hostages to use as human shields to protect from coalition airstrikes is another of its goals," said Osama Edward, director of the Stockholm-based Assyrian Network for Hu- man Rights in Syria. Christians moved to militant stronghold NORTHEASTERN SYRIA By Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez The Associated Press PANJSHIR VALLEY, AFGHAN- ISTAN Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghani- stan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath. The avalanches buried homes across four north- east provinces, killing those beneath, said Mo- hammad Aslam Syas, the deputy director of the Af- ghanistan Natural Disas- ter Management Authority. The province worst hit ap- peared to be Panjshir prov- ince, about 60 miles north- east of the capital, Kabul, where the avalanches de- stroyed or damaged around 100 homes, Syas said. The acting governor of Panjshir, Abdul Rahman Kabiri, said rescuers used their bare hands and shov- els in an effort to reach sur- vivors. Rescue teams had been dispatched to the af- fected areas and casualties were expected to rise, Syas said. The heavy snowstorms, which began early Tues- day, hampered rescue ef- forts. Snow fall from the storm was nearly 3 feet deep in places and fallen trees blocked roads in the Panjshir Valley. Gen. Abdul Aziz Ghirat, the provincial police chief of Panjshir, said the death toll from the avalanches was expected to rise when rescue attempts resumed at sunrise Thursday. Avalanches in the valley's Dara district affected up to 600 families, according to people trying to reach the area to assist in rescue ef- forts. "People there have told me that two of my relatives have been killed and eight others are still under the snow," said an Afghan who goes by the single name Sharafudin. "My son and I are trying to get through to see if we can help find their bodies. But it will take us at least three or four hours to get there because of the snow and the road is very narrow, so we have to walk, the car can't get through." He spoke at the mouth of the valley, where traffic moved at a crawl. "We've had no help yet from the authorities, no medicines, no machinery to open the roads so we can get to the buried houses," Sharafudin said. Another man stuck on the highway trying to reach Dara said many bodies re- mained in houses buried beneath feet of snow. AFGHANISTAN Avalanches kill at least 124 MASSOUD HOSSAINI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Afghan men walk in a village close to an avalanche site in Panjshir province north of Kabul, on Wednesday. By Elena Becatoros The Associated Press ATHENS, GREECE Greece's prime minister held a mar- athon meeting with his par- ty's lawmakers Wednesday, briefing them on pledges made to European creditors to win a four-month exten- sion of the country's bailout amid simmering party dis- content over what some see as a capitulation. The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, lasted more than 11 hours. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected last month on the promise to repeal bailout austerity measures, including spending cuts and tax hikes, has been at pains to persuade hardliners in his radical left Syriza party that Greece succeeded in its European negotiations. Greece won its extension Tuesday by pledging a se- ries of policy measures, in- cluding adherence to certain reforms and highlighting its will to crack down on cor- ruption and tax evasion. It promised not roll back priva- tizations as it had promised before being elected on Jan. 25 and not take any unilat- eral action without consult- ing with Greece's creditors. But some party members and ministers have insisted election promises should be kept. Energy and Environ- ment Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, a party hard- liner, has repeated he will not go ahead with privati- zations, which were part of initial requirements for the 240 billion euro (currently $272 billion) bailout. Lafazanis told the daily Ethnos newspaper that the privatization of the power grid and of the country's power utility would be halted as final binding bids had not yet been submitted. BAILOUT EXTENSION Greek leader faces critics over pledges Select"Subscribe"tabinlowerrightcorner Complete information for automatic weekly delivery to your email inbox That's it! This FREE service made possible by the advertisers in TV Select Magazine Kindly patronize and thank them. 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