Seven men indicted for plotting terror strikes
The men were part of a homegrown terrorist group who sought to work with Al-Qaeda but were netted by FBI.
Seven members of a homegrown terrorist group in the US have been indicted for allegedly agreeing to help Al-Qaeda to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower, the world's third largest skyscraper, as also a federal building in Miami.
The men -- five American citizens, one permanent resident from Haiti and an illegal alien from the same country -- were part of a "homegrown terrorist group" who sought to work with Al-Qaeda but were netted by FBI with help from an informer who posed as a member of the terror network headed by Osama bin Laden, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said.
"They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy," Gonzales told reporters at Justice Department in Washington, a day after their arrest in Miami, Florida.
The men, aged from 22 to 32, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami and taken into custody after authorities raided a warehouse in the Liberty City area.
The seven, expected to appear in a Miami court today, had taken an oath to al-Qaeda and sought help from the informer whome they thought was a member of the network.
"The convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism," Gonzales said. "Today terrorist threats come from smaller more loosely defined cells not affiliated with Al-Qaeda but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message, and left unchecked these homegrown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaida," he said.