New York, Thursday,

THREE radical Muslims were convicted of planning to bomb 12 US passenger jets to punish the United States for its support of Israel.

A federal jury found Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the plot, and two other defendants, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, guilty on all counts after two-and-a-half days of deliberations. The three men, who face possible life in prison, were convicted of conspiring to bomb the airliners and trying to kill Americans to retaliate against the United States.

Yousef, arrested in 1995 in Pakistan, was accused of being the architect of the scheme to murder thousands of passengers over 48 hours last year as they returned on Delta, Northwest, and United flights to the United States from Asia.

He was also convicted of placing a bomb on a Philippine Airlines flight in 1994 as a trial run. The bomb exploded, killing one passenger and injuring 10 people. Yousef will be tried later this year for allegedly masterminding the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, which killed six and injured more than 1000 people.-Reuter.