WASHINGTON, Nov 8: Two men — a Pakistani and a South Korean — have been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for allegedly running a support network for Lashkar-i-Taiba.

US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who announced the sentences on Friday evening, also sent a third accused to prison for less than four years.

Two of them are naturalized US citizens and the third is a born American. All are Muslims.

The three convicts, and eight others who are awaiting trial in the same case, were accused of practising military tactics while playing paintball in a field outside Washington.

Defence attorneys insisted that the paintball games were harmless but another defendant helped the prosecution turn the case around. Mohammed Aatique, also of Pakistani origin, admitted that he used the games to train for combat.

Yong Ki Kwon, a converted Muslim of South Korean origin, received the longest sentence of 11 years and six months, because of what prosecutors and the judge called his larger role in the conspiracy.

Khwaja Mahmood Hasan, a Pakistani American, was sentenced to 11 years and three months. Donald T. Surratt, an American citizen, was described by prosecutors as “less culpable” and will go to jail for just less than four years.

Prosecutors said Yong and Hasan were among the defendants who travelled to Pakistan in 2001 to train with and serve in the Lashkar.

They argued that Yong and Hasan had agreed to join the Taliban fight against US forces in Afghanistan, but the judge said there was no such evidence.

“At best, what Hasan and (Yong) did in Pakistan was attempt to receive training. I don’t see how this is giving service” to the group, Ms Brinkema said.

The 11 men, all but one from the Washington suburbs and nine of them US citizens, were accused of possessing a variety of weapons and practising military tactics in a paintball field.