A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an Iraqi-Canadian man to 26 years in US prison for supporting a group of militants who committed a 2009 suicide truck bombing that killed five American soldiers in Iraq. US District Judge Roslynn Mauskopf said Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa played a "comparatively limited role" in the conspiracy from Canada — one that did not include planning the actual attack. Isas actions warranted a significant prison term, the judge added, but one less severe than the life sentence called for under the federal sentencing guidelines. She noted the government faced logistical hurdles, such as locating witnesses abroad, and the risk of acquittal should Isa have chosen to stand trial on terrorism charges. "Theres no excuse for even trying to kill American soldiers," the judge said, adding the sentence "sends a message" to anyone contemplating similar conduct. Isa will be deported to Canada following his release and placed on federal probation for the rest of his life. Isa was arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, in 2011 on a US warrant after an investigation by authorities in New York, Canada and Tunisia. Federal prosecutors cited wiretap evidence and an interview of Isa in linking him to the Tunisian terror network that used a suicide bomber to detonate an explosives-laden truck outside the US Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul. As the truck proceeded past an Iraqi police checkpoint, it detonated next to an American military convoy, leaving a crater that prosecutors said was 18 meters deep. Isa admitted corresponding by email with two of the militants while they were in Syria and "facilitators" who were trying to get the attackers into Iraq, according to court filings. Authorities said he also wired one of them $700 and provided "words of encouragement" to his co-conspirators.