US warns of rise in deomestic terror cells

Washington, June 23 (UNI) Seven men indicted in a conspiracy to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and five government buildings in Miami are ''homegrown terrorists'', who have no links with the al Qaeda but had sought to wage a full ground war against the United States.

The men, called ''homegrown terrorists'' by Attorney General Alberto R Gonzales, are accused of providing material support to terrorist organisations, including al Qaeda, conspiracy to maliciously destroy buildings by using explosive device and conspiracy to levy war against the United States.

Mr Gonzales warned of a growing threat from these terrorist cells.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday at the Justice Department, Mr Gonzales said the seven include five U S citizens, one legal permanent resident and one Haitian national illegally living in the country. They had decided to wage a war against the US government, he said and added that the men can be compared to a group of Canadian citizens arrested earlier this month in Toronto for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Canada, and to terror cells of British and Spanish citizens responsible for deadly bombings in London and Madrid.

'' The terrorists and suspected terrorists in Madrid London and Toronto were not sleeper operatives sent on suicide missions,'' Mr Gonzales said. '' They were students and business people and members of the community. They were persons who, for whatever reason, came to view their home country as the enemy. And it's a problem that we face here in the United States as well,'' he added.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole called the indictment '' an important step forward in the war on terrorism,'' saying the men sought support, funding, materials and weapons for their mission, initiated a plot to blow up targets, conducted surveillance and conspired to ''murder countless Americans''.

''But we pre-empted their plot,'' Mr Pistole said, although he acknowledged the men never obtained any explosives or weapons and never made contact with any known terrorist, conspiring instead with an informant they thought was a member of al Qaeda.

The men, arraigned yesterday in Miami under heavy security, are members of a religious group who neighbours say lived and practised martial arts in a warehouse in the city's hardscrabble Liberty City neighbourhood.

According to the indictment, Narseal Batiste, a US citizen identified as the group's leader, recruited the other six to join him in preparing to carry out terrorist attacks, including assaults on the 108-floor Sears Tower -- the nation's tallest skyscraper -- and FBI buildings as well as local government offices in Miami-Dade County.

The indictment said one of the suspects, Narseal Batiste, met several times in December with the informant, to whom he swore his allegiance to al Qaeda and from whom he requested boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and 50,000 dollars to help build an ''Islamic army to wage jihad''.

Mr Pistole said Batiste intended to recruit and supervise volunteers and took steps to carry out violent attacks in the country.

Mr Gonzales said an investigation into the suspected conspiracy was continuing, but declined to elaborate.

The four-count indictment, in the US District Court in Miami, named Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin and Rotschild Augustine. Arrested on Thursday, six were taken into custody in Miami and a seventh in Atlanta, according to media reports here.

The men appeared before a federal magistrate yesterday in Miami and were granted court-appointed attorneys. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison on each charge.

UNI XC MA RK2010