NEW YORK, Nov 6: An activist of extremist Jewish Defence League (JDL) convicted for his role in a plot to bomb a California mosque and the office of a Lebanese-American congressman was killed at a federal prison in Phoenix (Arizona) according to newspaper report.

Earl Krugel, 62, was killed in an assault on Friday evening at the Federal Correctional Institution.

Krugel, a former dental assistant from Los Angeles, and JDL leader Irv Rubin were arrested in 2001 and charged with conspiring to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and a field’s office of Republican Darrell E. Issa, who is a Lebanese-American.

Krugel pleaded guilty in 2003 to one count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of worshippers at the mosque and one count of carrying an explosive device in connection with a conspiracy to impede or injure an office of the United States.

Despite the plea, he was sentenced in Sept to 20 years in prison. The reasons for the collapse of an initial plea agreement were sealed. The extremist Jewish Defence League was founded in 1968 by Rabbi Meir Kahane.