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Pakistani Officials: US Men Planned to Attack Sites in Pakistan

   Officials  tell  media  five  young Muslim men had established contact
   with Taliban militants and had planned to travel to tribal region

   VOA News 26 December 2009
   In  this  five-combo file photo released by Sargodha Police Department
   (11  Dec  2009),  arrested American Muslims, from left, Waqar Hussain,
   Ramy  Zamzam,  Umar  Farooq,  Ahmad  Minni,  Aman  Yemer  are  seen in
   Sargodha, Pakistan

Photo: AP

   In  this  five-combo file photo released by Sargodha Police Department
   (11  Dec  2009),  arrested American Muslims, from left, Waqar Hussain,
   Ramy  Zamzam,  Umar  Farooq,  Ahmad  Minni,  Aman  Yemer  are  seen in
   Sargodha, Pakistan

   Pakistani  officials  say  five  American  men  recently  arrested  in
   Pakistan  had  planned  to  attack  sites  in  that country, including
   possibly a nuclear plant.
   The  officials  told  media  the five young Muslim men had established
   contact with Taliban militants and had planned to travel to the tribal
   region in northwest Pakistan.
   They  say  the Chashma nuclear power plant in Punjab province may have
   been one of their targets.
   The  five men, all from the Washington, DC area, were arrested earlier
   this  month  in Sargodha in Punjab province at the home of a leader of
   the  banned  militant  group  Jaish-e-Mohammad  (Army  of  the Prophet
   Mohammad).  The Pakistan-based group has ties to al-Qaida.
   Police  say the men used Internet sites to try to contact militants in
   Pakistan before traveling there from the U.S. in late November.
   Pakistani  investigators  are  interrogating the five Americans.  U.S.
   FBI agents in Pakistan have also questioned them.
   The  Council  on American Islamic Relations, a U.S. civil rights group
   representing  Muslims,  said  the men made a "farewell video" with the
   message that Muslims must be defended.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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