According to an FBI official, seven individuals were detained on Thursday under the suspicion of planning a terrorist attack that included several buildings in the US, among which the Sears Towers in Chicago and the whole range of FBI offices there, the Associated Press informs.


In an interview with the news agency, the official, who liked to keep his anonymity so as not to interfere with information being revealed in news press conferences expected today in Miami and Washington, stated that the plotters' nationality was mainly American, and they were not known of holding any direct or indirect links to al-Qaeda or other international terrorist organizations. Most of them were teenagers or in their 20s and local residents have reported that they had been staying within that area for over a year. They had displayed odd behavior lately, stating they would sacrifice their lives for Allah.

The federal law enforcement officers conducted a series of raids in several parts of Miami, which also included a warehouse in the Liberty City quarter of the city, where all seven men resided, while administrating a military training camp.
Richard Kolko, a spokesman for the FBI headquarters in Washington, insisted the police officers' operations do not imply any terrorist threats for the US: "There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations".

R. Alexander Acosta, the Miami US attorney, declared that more details about the ongoing operations would surface during the press conferences.

As far as Sears Towers' representatives were concerned, they said in an official statement that they keep regular briefings with the FBI about any terrorism-related matters and yesterday was no exception:" 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".