Arrested Miami men planned 'war' against US

MIAMI, June 23 (Reuters) Seven people arrested in Miami planned attacks on the landmark Sears Tower in Chicago and other buildings as part of pledge to al Qaeda to wage war against the United States, US prosecutors said today.

An indictment handed down against the men by a grand jury in south Florida said they sought to gain support from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda in order to destroy FBI buildings in the United States. At least one of them also plotted to blow up the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, it said.

The men, named as Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine, were due to appear in a Miami magistrate's court later today.

They were arrested yesterday after heavily armed FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies swooped on a warehouse in one of Miami's poorest neighborhoods, Liberty City, a predominantly black area that has witnessed some of Miami's worst race riots.

A man identified as a member of the ''Seas of David'' religious group told CNN yesterday that five of his fellow members were among those arrested and that they had no connection to terrorists.

REUTERS SRS KN1931