Five Muslim men accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Australia stockpiled bomb-making instructions and purchased explosive chemicals as part of their plan, a prosecutor told a court Tuesday.

Prosecutor Richard Maidment said the suspects saw Australia’s military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq as an act of aggression against Muslims. The men, whom prosecutors have said were devotees of a radical cleric sympathetic to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, have pleaded not guilty.

Maidment told the 15-member jury as the trial opened Tuesday in New South Wales state Supreme Court that the men planned to use explosive devices or firearms to commit “extreme violence” in a bid to force Australia’s government to change its policy on Middle East conflicts.

Khaled Cheikho, 35, Moustafa Cheikho, 31, Mohamed Ali Elomar, 43, Abdul Rakib Hasan, 39, and Mohammed Omar Jamal, 24, were arrested in a series of raids in 2005. They have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit acts in preparation for a terrorist attack. Each face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Raids on the men’s homes turned up bomb-making instructions and militant Islamist material _ including footage of planes flying into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and images of beheadings, Maidment said. The prosecutor also said the men purchased explosive chemicals and guns between July 2004 and November 2005.

The trial is expected to last up to one year.