A group of detained young Americans grilled by the FBI in Pakistan had tried to join Islamist militant groups and travel to the northwest Taliban heartland, officials said yesterday.
They shall not be deported unless police clear them of any crimes, a Pakistani minister said Friday.
"All of them are in the custody of Pakistan police in Sargodha and are being interrogated. They will not be deported," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
US President Barack Obama vowed an investigation into how and why the five men left the United States for Pakistan, possibly swept up in extremist movements in a country battling to contain militant organisations.
Tire five young men arrested on Wednesday in Sargodha, about 180 km south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, were I IS citizens with origins in other countries, including two Pakistani-Americans. officials said.
In a separate development. Pakistan's military on Friday killed 20 insurgents in operations against Taliban strongholds, as die prime minister warned that militants were striking back with attacks in big cities.
Police officials had said the five US men were planning to strike "sensitive installations" in Pakistan, but a picture formed Friday of young Muslim men radicalised by Jihadi websites without concrete ties to a specific group.
"They tried to contact Jihadi groups in Pakistan through YouTtibe and other websites,”
Sargodha district police chief Usman Anwar told a local TV station.
"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 one of seven tribal districts along the Afghan border, where al-Qaeda, Thliban and other militant groups have carved out sanctuaries and training camps in Lite hostile region outside direct government control.
In an interview with CNN broadcast Thursday, Anwar said: "They were there for jihad... They could have done anything. They had US passports. They would have access to many, many places."
Pictures of the detainees shown on the private Express 24/7 TV station Friday showed five young men, most of them clean-shaven, in western clothing.
The arrests have raised fears that Muslim radicallsation is gaining momentum in the United States, creating high-value recruits for Islamist groups.
While Obama declined to speak specifically about the arrests, he vowed on Thursday that there would be "a series of investigations."
He warned of the relative ease with which members of the Muslim American community can gain access to distorted and extremist teachings on the Web.
"We have to constantly be mindful that some of these twisted ideologies are available over the Internet and can affect our young people," he said.