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Taliban fighters in Pakistan - Source: Reuters
Five young Americans detained in Pakistan, which is fighting an
increasingly violent Taliban insurgency, wanted to join a jihad, or
holy war, a police official said.
The five men, students in their 20s from northern Virginia, were
detained this week in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province, 190
km southeast of Islamabad, security officials said.
"Our police came to know that some foreigners are staying here and
their arrival here is suspicious. We watched them for one and a
half days and then arrested them," Usman Anwar, police chief of
Sargodha, told reporters.
"We seized laptops and other things from their possession. Later we
came to know that they have come here with the intention of
'jihad'."
The case will fan fears in the United States and other Western
countries that the sons of immigrants from Muslim countries are
being drawn to violent Islamist militancy.
Pakistan is under pressure to root out militants crossing its
borders to attack American-led troops in neighbouring
Afghanistan.
The US FBI said in a statement released in the United States it was
in contact with the families of the five as well as law-enforcement
authorities in Pakistan.
Another Pakistani security official said the five were detained on
Monday.
They had flown into the city of Karachi on November 30 and then
travelled to Lahore on December 5, and then on to Sargodha, he
said.
"No charge has been framed against them. Investigations are under
way as to whether they have any links with extremist groups," said
the second Pakistani official.
Officials said three Pakistanis had also been detained, one of whom
was believed to have been linked to a 2007 suicide bomb attack on
an air force bus outside an air base in Sargodha in which eight
people were killed.
"Some mobile phone SIMs and computer disks have also been
recovered," said another Pakistani agent.
Disturbing video
A US Embassy spokesman said it was trying to confirm the identities
of the five and was working closely with the Pakistan
government.
Pakistan news reports said the suspects were being investigated for
links with the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad, or Army of the Prophet Mohammad, has links
with al Qaeda and the Taliban.
It is one of several factions with roots in Punjab province that
have been battling Indian forces in disputed Kashmir.
The group was suspected of involvement in several high-profile
attacks including the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002
and an assassination attempt on former president Pervez
Musharraf.
Rashid Rauf, a British militant suspected of being ringleader of a
2006 plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic, was also a Jaish
member.
Officials said one of the Americans was of Egyptian origin, one of
Yemeni origin and another of Eritrean origin.
A US Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), said it brought the case to the attention of US
law-enforcement authorities this month after family members
informed CAIR of the men's disappearance.
The national executive director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, told a news
conference an 11-minute video was left behind that appeared to be a
farewell from the men.
Awad said he had watched the video and found it disturbing.
It did not say what the men planned but dealt with conflicts in
the world and featured verses of the Koran, he said.
News of the arrests came as a Chicago man with Pakistani roots,
accused of scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attacks in India,
pleaded not guilty in a Chicago court.
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