Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had jailed a group of Afghan, British, Jordanian and Russian citizens for plotting terrorist acts. A court sitting in closed session last month convicted the nine men of planning terrorism, of illegal arms possession, crossing borders illegally and of forging documents, the National Security Ministry said in a statement. Sentences handed out to the group, which also included three Azeris, ranged from 15 years in jail to three-year suspended sentences, the ministry said. The ministry named one British citizen, 27-year-old Ali Fadil Eldrissi, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail. He was recruited to the group as an expert in building remote-controlled bombs, the ministry said. Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, lies just south of Russia\'s North Caucasus region which includes separatist Chechnya. Azeri officials say it has been used as a transit route by militant Islamic fighters on their way to join anti-Moscow rebels in the north. (Reuters)