Six held in plot to attack New Jersey army base

PHILADELPHIA, May 8 (Reuters) Six suspected Islamic radicals have been arrested on allegations of plotting an attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix army base with the aim of killing as many soldiers as possible, federal prosecutors said today.

The investigation started in January 2006 after a customer asked a store to transfer a video to DVD. The video appeared to show 10 young men at a firing range shooting assault rifles while calling for holy war and shouting ''God is great'' in Arabic, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.

The store contacted the FBI, and an informant infiltrated the group two months later, prosecutors said.

The statement called the suspects ''Islamic radicals.'' ''At least at this point there is no evidence that they received direction from international terror organizations,'' said White House spokesman Tony Snow. ''However their involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance and discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a strong law enforcement response.'' ''They were plotting to make an assault on Fort Dix with the intention of killing as many US soldiers as possible,'' said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey.

Four of the suspects were born in Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, said Drewniak. Some of the suspects were US citizens and others were illegal immigrants, he added.

The suspects had acquired semi-automatic assault rifles, shotguns and hand guns and performed surveillance on Fort Dix and other US military installations in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, the complaint said.

The arrests were made on Monday night in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, said a spokesman for the Cherry Hill police.

They are scheduled to be charged with terrorism offenses in US District Court in Camden, New Jersey, today.

REUTERS PJ RAI2144