Five American Muslims were bound for Taliban heartland

Five Americans arrested in Pakistan have been grilled by the FBI and US security agencies and had tried to join terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda intending to travel to the Taliban heartland in the country's restive northwest.

Five Americans arrested in Pakistan have been grilled by the FBI and US security agencies and had tried to join terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda intending to travel to the Taliban heartland in the country's restive northwest.

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Police officials said the five men were planning to strike "sensitive installations" in Pakistan. All the five
were picked up with their laptops, maps and videos suggesting that they intended to join extremist terrorist groups to fight US forces in Afghanistan, media reports here said.

The five men were arrested on Wednesday in Sargodha, about 180 kilometres south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad,
and were all US citizens with origins in other countries, including two Pakistani-Americans, one Egyptian-American and
two Ethiopian-Americans.

"They tried to contact jihadi groups in Pakistan through YouTube and other websites," Sargodha district police
chief Usman Anwar was quoted by the media as saying.

"From the documents and maps that they were carrying, it appeared that their destination was Miranshah, the main
town of North Waziristan tribal district. This indicates what
they were up to."

North Waziristan is where Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other militant groups have carved out sanctuaries and training camps
in the hostile region outside direct government control.