US knew of NY terror cell

AN alleged terrorist cell in western New York trained

The investigation into the group of five men, who were arrested on Friday in Lackawanna, near Buffalo, began in early summer 2001, about the time records say the men returned from Afghanistan, US attorney for western New York, Michael Battle, said.

All five were born in the US and are of Yemeni descent.

"What essentially happened is that information came to our attention that pointed us in the direction of these individuals," Mr Battle said.

He declined to comment on specifics, but said law enforcement officials took investigative steps to corroborate the information. "It was based upon that corroboration that we began to look a little deeper," Mr Battle said.

He said the communications and other activities surrounding the cell intensified this month.

Federal authorities who announced the arrest said Osama bin Laden himself had lectured the men on his anti-American beliefs while they were in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the months leading up to September 11.

The men came home to Lackawanna in June 2001. Federal agents said they had no information the cell was planning an attack in the United States.

Relatives of the men have denied they were involved with al-Qaida.

Officials said the discovery of the terrorist cell was connected to information that also prompted the Bush administration to raise America's terror alert to "code orange", the second highest, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The men appeared in a Buffalo court on Saturday charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organisations. The judge entered a "not guilty" plea for each and remanded the men in custody until a detention hearing on Wednesday.

According to the criminal complaint unsealed by the judge, the five men Shafal Mosed, 24, Faysal Galab, 26, Sahim Alwan, 29, Yasein Taher, 24, and Yahya Goba, 25 live within a few blocks of each other in Lackawanna and trained together in Afghanistan.