PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A radical Islamic group known for launching a bloody 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad faced growing scrutiny at home and abroad well before an alleged U.S. terrorist plot focused new attention on it. The four suspects named on Saturday in the plot to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York tried to enlist the help of Jamaat al Muslimeen, according to U.S. court documents.But the group, whose followers are largely black converts to Sunni Islam, has faded as a political force in Trinidad as its charismatic leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, fends off criminal charges of inciting violence. In 1990, Abu Bakr's group stormed Parliament and took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage in a rebellion that left 24 dead - the only Islamic revolt in the Western Hemisphere. The rebels eventually surrendered and were later pardoned.
Though they did have contact, Jamaat al Muslimeen is not accused of offering any support to the men involved in the plot to blow up the New York airport, its fuel tanks and a jet fuel artery.