Two Iraqis living in the United States have been arrested on "terrorism" charges for allegedly conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq and smuggle Stinger missiles to insurgents, US officials said Tuesday.

Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, were arrested on Wednesday, May 25 in Bowling Green, Kentucky after a lengthy and elaborate sting operation, the US Justice Department said.

They were indicted by a grand jury on charges which included seeking to supply inert Stinger missiles, rocket propelled grenades and other weapons for operations they believed were destined for Iraq.

The charges include conspiracy to kill US nationals abroad, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals abroad, distributing information on making and using explosive devices, and conspiracy to export Stinger missiles, the Justice Department added.

If convicted on all charges, the two could face life imprisonment.

The Department added in its statement that neither man is charged with plotting attacks inside the United States.

"Over the course of roughly eight years, Waad Ramadan Alwan allegedly supported efforts to kill US troops in Iraq, first by participating in the construction and placement of improvised explosive devices in Iraq and, more recently, by attempting to ship money and weapons from the United States to insurgents in Iraq," said Todd Hinnen, acting assistant attorney general for national security.

"His co-defendant Mohanad Shareef Hammadi is accused of many of the same activities," he said.

US Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano told the television network MSNBC that both men entered the country as refugees, and had been "revetted... going back and finding... required information that links up or fills out names and people."

Alwan, who was being charged for crimes that occurred both in Iraq and the United States, entered the United States in April 2009 and moved to Bowling Green.

Hammadi came to the United States a few months later in July 2009, and also moved to Bowling Green after a short time in Las Vegas.

Within months, both men were under FBI surveillance in September 2009. In August 2010, the FBI began using a confidential informant with Alwan, and in January 2011, Hammadi also started talking to an informant.

Alwan allegedly told the informant of his activities as an insurgent in Iraq from 2003, including using Improvised Explosive Devices (IED)s hundreds of times and sniper rifles to target US forces, until he was captured by the Iraqis in 2006.

When the informant asked Alwan about the effectiveness of the IEDs, Alwan allegedly replied: "Oh,yes," and said his attacks had "f--ked up" Hummers and targeted Bradley fighting vehicles, the Justice Department said.

Alwan told the informant that he liked to use a particular brand of cordless telephone base station in his IEDs. According to the statement, the FBI found Alwan's fingerprints on that brand used as part of an IED.

By September 2010, Alwan was allegedly telling the informant that he would like to provide support to terrorists in Iraq.

The informant arranged for Alawn to pick up machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from a storage facility in Kentucky and deliver them to another location, believing that they were destined for Iraq.

Three months later, Alwan recruited Hammadi to help with the operation.

In early 2011, the two helped deliver other weapons, including sniper rifles and inert C4 plastic explosives, to a tractor trailer, believing the material was bound for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to the statement.

In March 2011, the two picked up two inert Stinger missiles and took them to the same tractor trailer, believing they were also destined for Iraq.

They were arrested two months later.

The arrests were the "culmination of extremely well-coordinated, diligent and tireless efforts by the FBI and our law enforcement partners," said the FBI's special agent in charge of the region, Elizabeth Fries.

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