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CAMDEN, New Jersey - Six suspected Islamic radicals have been arrested on charges of plotting an attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix army base with the aim of killing American soldiers, according to federal prosecutors.
The group planned to send six or seven men into Fort Dix "to attack and kill at least one hundred soldiers by using rocket propelled grenades or other weapons," the 27-page document said, citing recordings obtained by an informant.
They also discussed attacking two American warships when they were expected to dock in Philadelphia.
The arrests were made on Monday night in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, said a spokesman for Cherry Hill police.
They were to appear on terrorism charges in US District Court in Camden, New Jersey, later on Tuesday local time, Drewniak said.
"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."
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.
Fort Dix is used to train reservists from all branches of the military, many of whom are preparing for Iraq and Afghanistan, a spokeswoman at the fort said.
"Jihad" Video
In January 2006 a retailer alerted FBI officers about a customer who had been asked to copy a video onto a DVD. The footage depicted young men at a firing range who were shooting assault weapons while calling for "jihad" and shouting "Allah Akbar," or "God is Great" in Arabic, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
By March 2006 the group was infiltrated by the first of two FBI informers, who obtained computer files. One of these -- a file named "19" -- appears to be the last will and testament of at least two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks, the document said.
Another contained images of Osama bin Laden urging viewers to join their movement.
In a recording obtained by an informants, suspect Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer said, "If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix and I don't want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily."
When the informant asked Shnewer why he wanted to attack Fort Dix, he replied, "My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers."
But Eljvir Duka said the group would need a fatwa, or ruling from an Islamic scholar, before they could attack.
The group trained in Pennsylvania's Pocono mountains in February, where law enforcement officials conducted video surveillance.
Four of the suspects were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey.
In addition to Shnewer and Eljvir Duka, the suspects were identified as Dritan Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar and Agron Abdullahu. Immigration officials said Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka were illegal immigrants.
- REUTERS
