The U.S. Justice Department asked a judge Tuesday to throw out the convictions of three members of an alleged terrorist cell in Detroit because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In a late-night filing, the department told U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen it supports the defendants' request for a new trial and will no longer pursue charges of providing material support to terrorism, meaning they would face only face fraud charges, at most, at a new trial.

In a jury verdict hailed by the Bush administration last summer as a major victory in the war on terrorism, Karim Koubriti, 25, and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 38, were convicted on terrorism and fraud charges and Ahmed Hannan, 36, was convicted of fraud. A fourth defendant was acquitted.

The department's decision came after a lengthy independent investigation uncovered several pieces of evidence that prosecutors failed to turn over to defence lawyers.

The review also turned up evidence that some testimony government witnesses gave at the trial was wrong or overstated, leading to the conclusion that terrorism charges could not be supported at a new trial.