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NYC Temple Bomb Plot Jury Selection Begins

NEW YORK (CBS 2/AP) -- Jury selection is underway Monday in the trial of four men accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues.

LISTEN: WCBS 880's veteran crime and courts reporter Irene Cornell reports

Proceedings were delayed in June after a judge ruled that the prosecution failed to turn over key information to defense lawyers.

The men are accused of conspiring with an FBI informant to blow up two Bronx synagogues and shoot down planes at Newburgh Air National Guard Base.

Shaheed Hussain was a wire-wearing FBI informant. His credibility will be tested when he testifies as the government's star witness at the trial of the four men.

Opening statements in the trial are set for this week in Manhattan federal court.

The government credits Hussain with rooting out radical Muslims at a mosque in Newburgh, a small town north of New York. The defense has sought to portray him as a "fraudster" who lured dupes into a phony scheme.

All four have pleaded not guilty. Their defense is claiming entrapment.

(TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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