Miami, USA - Seven members of an apparent militaristic religious sect have been arrested in Miami over an alleged plot to blow up the Sears Tower skyscraper and other buildings, US officials said.
US law enforcement agencies said, however, that no explosives or weapons were found when they raided a warehouse where the suspects had been living and that little real planning for an attack on Chicago's Sears Tower, America's tallest skyscraper, had taken place.
"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, a spokesman at FBI headquarters in Washington.
Officials gave few details of the operation ahead of press conferences scheduled for today. But according to the Miami Herald newspaper, five of those detained were US citizens, one was a resident foreigner and another an illegal immigrant.
According to the paper, members of the group thought they had support from al-Qaida in planning the attacks, but had in fact been talking to undercover law enforcement officers.
They believed they "were doing [the attacks] in conjunction with al-Qaida", one unnamed official was quoted as saying. It was "pretty much talk, we were on top of them", the official added.
FBI agents backed by police SWAT teams sealed off a large area in Miami's Liberty City area yesterday before swooping on the warehouse and arresting the seven men.
Neighbours said the men, described as being in their teens and 20s, had been living inside the warehouse for around a year, using it as a cross between a military base and a karate school, run on a religious basis.
A neighbour, Tashawn Rose, said: "They would come out late at night and exercise. It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard. They seemed brainwashed. They said they had given their lives to Allah." She added that the men tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class.
Police did not name any of the arrested men, but the Miami Herald named one of them as 31-year-old Stanley Phanor.
Mr Phanor's sister told the paper that the warehouse group had formed about a year ago and called itself the "Seas of David".
The group's 40 to 50 members considered themselves "soldiers of God" and were against the war in Iraq, while adopting disciplines such as daily exercise, no drinking, drugs or meat.
A man calling himself Brother Corey and claiming to be a member of the group told CNN that it was peaceful and devoted to Bible study, not a terrorist organisation.
"We are not terrorists. We are members of David, Seas of David," said the man, identified as Brother Corey. He said the group had "soldiers" in Chicago, but reiterated it was peaceful movement.
The indictment said all of the defendants also referred to themselves as "Brothers."
One neighbour, Benjamin Williams, told the Miami Herald that the men in the warehouse had described it as a karate school.
"They used to be out around 11 at night, practicing like they were in the military or something ... push-ups, jumping jacks and jumping over chairs," he said.
"They would be gone all day and come back at night to the warehouse to sleep. They sold shampoo and hair grease on the street," another neighbour told the paper.
The Sears Tower, completed in 1973, is the tallest building in the United States at 1,450 feet and 110 floors. Managers said they did not believe the tower had been in danger.
"Law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions," they said in a statement.