WACO, Texas — Explosives experts found evidence of a bomb in the making — a pressure cooker containing smokeless powder and other material — in the Texas motel room of a soldier accused of planning to blow up Fort Hood troops, according to testimony at his federal trial today.

After Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo was detained in July at motel in Killeen, authorities searching his backpack found a loaded handgun, components to make an explosive device, a handwritten list of items and an article about making bombs, said Sgt. 1st Class Brad Grimes with Fort Hood’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit. He told jurors he considered those items a “viable threat,” so investigators got a search warrant for Abdo’s motel room, where they discovered the pressure cooker and materials to make a bomb, as well as a stun gun.

Abdo, 22, a Muslim soldier who was AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., is accused of planning to detonate a bomb inside a restaurant frequented by Fort Hood troops and then shoot any survivors. He faces up to life in federal prison if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and five other charges.