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US jihad recruits arrested in Pakistan
Source: Agencies |
December 11, 2009, Friday
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FIVE American Muslims arrested in eastern Pakistan were directly connected to al-Qaida and are suspected of planning terror attacks in the country, a local police chief alleged yesterday.
Another senior officer said the men wanted to fight jihad, or holy war, in northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan and had asked for help from two Pakistani militant groups, which had turned them away because they did not trust them.
United States officials believe the five are men who were reported missing more than a week ago by their families in the Washington DC area. The families asked the FBI for help after finding a farewell video left by the men showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
The men, aged 19 to 25, were picked up on Wednesday at a house in the city of Sargodha in eastern Pakistan that was owned by the father of one of them, said Usman Anwar, the local police chief.
"They are proudly saying they are here for jihad," he said. "They are directly connected to al-Qaida. They had plans for attacks inside and outside Sargodha."
He did not say what evidence he had to support the claim. The men have not been charged.
Anwar said officers seized a laptop, jihadi literature and maps of Pakistani cities from the men.
Pakistan is home to a slew of militant groups waging a violent struggle against the government, mostly in the northwest, and is also seen as a global hub for al-Qaida.
But regional police chief Javed Islam did not mention their alleged al-Qaida links.
He said they wanted to join militants in Pakistan's tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and met representatives from the al-Qaida-linked Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group in Hyderabad and from the related Jamat-ud-Dawa in Lahore.
"They were asking to be recruited, trained and sent on jihad," he said.
But Islam said those groups turned them down because they did not have any "references" from militants trusted by them.
Three of the arrested Americans are of Pakistani descent, one is of Egyptian descent and the other has Yemeni origins, police officer Tahir Gujjar said.
Two other police officials said yesterday the men were cooperating with investigators after first giving conflicting statements.
Another senior officer said the men wanted to fight jihad, or holy war, in northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan and had asked for help from two Pakistani militant groups, which had turned them away because they did not trust them.
United States officials believe the five are men who were reported missing more than a week ago by their families in the Washington DC area. The families asked the FBI for help after finding a farewell video left by the men showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
The men, aged 19 to 25, were picked up on Wednesday at a house in the city of Sargodha in eastern Pakistan that was owned by the father of one of them, said Usman Anwar, the local police chief.
"They are proudly saying they are here for jihad," he said. "They are directly connected to al-Qaida. They had plans for attacks inside and outside Sargodha."
He did not say what evidence he had to support the claim. The men have not been charged.
Anwar said officers seized a laptop, jihadi literature and maps of Pakistani cities from the men.
Pakistan is home to a slew of militant groups waging a violent struggle against the government, mostly in the northwest, and is also seen as a global hub for al-Qaida.
But regional police chief Javed Islam did not mention their alleged al-Qaida links.
He said they wanted to join militants in Pakistan's tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and met representatives from the al-Qaida-linked Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group in Hyderabad and from the related Jamat-ud-Dawa in Lahore.
"They were asking to be recruited, trained and sent on jihad," he said.
But Islam said those groups turned them down because they did not have any "references" from militants trusted by them.
Three of the arrested Americans are of Pakistani descent, one is of Egyptian descent and the other has Yemeni origins, police officer Tahir Gujjar said.
Two other police officials said yesterday the men were cooperating with investigators after first giving conflicting statements.
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