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American Jihad?

Five young Americans detained in Pakistan had gone to the region with the intention of joining a jihad, or holy war, according to a statement from police officials.

“Five young Americans detained in Pakistan, which is fighting an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency, wanted to join a jihad, or holy war, a police official said on Thursday. The five men, students in their 20s from northern Virginia, were detained this week in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province, 190 km southeast of Islamabad, security officials said. ‘Our police came to know that some foreigners are staying here and their arrival here is suspicious. We watched them for one and a half days and then arrested them,’ Usman Anwar, police chief of Sargodha, told reporters. ‘We seized laptops and other things from their possession. Later we came to know that they have come here with the intention of ‘jihad’.’ The case will fan fears in the United States and other Western countries that the sons of immigrants from Muslim countries are being drawn to violent Islamist militancy.”


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