AMMAN - A military court on Wednesday convicted three Muslim militants of illegal possession of explosives, that prosecutors alleged were to be used for attacks on U.S. targets in Jordan.

The convictions came at the end of retrial ordered by the Appeal Court and effectively meant that the court was confirming a judgment handed down in another military court in 2004.

In its Wednesday ruling the court, however, relieved the militants of any charges pertaining to plotting to attack U.S. targets. The judges also decided to reduce the sentence of one militant, Saleh Awad al-Ali, from 12 to 7 years, as they ruled that he had a less significant role in the crime than initially asserted.

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The other two militants, Mohammed Ahmad al-Chalabi and Amer Mohammed al-Sraj, received the same sentences as in 2004 - 15 and 10 years in jail respectively.

Al-Chalabi, also known as Abu Sayyaf, is currently appealing a death sentence handed down for his role in riots that led to the death of six people in the southern town of Maan in 2002.

The three militants, all Jordanians, were among 13 men who stood trial in 2003 on charges of conspiring to carry out terror attacks against the U.S. Embassy and other American targets in Jordan and of illegal possession of explosives.

In December 2004, the military court acquitted the 13 of terrorism charges, but convicted 11 of them of illegal possession of explosives. However, last year the Appeal Court asked military judges to reconsider three of the convictions as there had been several technical and legal flaws in the trial.