Miami: Seven people were arrested in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack the tallest US skyscraper - Chicago's Sears Tower - and other buildings in the US, including the FBI office here, a federal law enforcement official said.
As part of the raids tied to the arrests on Thursday, FBI agents swarmed a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City area, using a blowtorch to take off a metal door. One neighbor said the suspects had been sleeping in the warehouse while running what seemed to be a ''military boot camp.''
The official told The Associated Press the alleged plotters were mainly Americans with no apparent ties to al-Qaida or other foreign terrorist organizations. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt news conferences planned for Friday in Washington and Miami.
Miami US Attorney R Alexander Acosta said in a statement that more details about the probe would be released Friday.
''There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations,'' said Richard Kolko, spokesman for FBI headquarters in Washington. He declined further comment.
FBI Director Robert Mueller, questioned about the case during an appearance on CNN's ''Larry King Live,'' said he couldn't offer many details because ''it's an ongoing operation.''
''We are conducting a number of arrests and searches'' in Miami, Mueller said, which were expected to be wrapped up Friday morning.
Managers of the Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, said in a statement that they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats and that Thursday ''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,'' the statement said.
Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Muslims and had tried to recruit young people to join their apparently militaristic group.
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The 110-floor Sears Tower is the tallest building of US, at 1,450 feet (435 meters).
Security was ramped up after the September 11 attacks, and the 103rd-floor skydeck was closed for about a month and a half.
The FBI's headquarters in Miami sits near a residential neighborhood just east of Interstate 95.
A huge crowd - up to 2,50,000 people - was expected to gather at downtown on Friday for a parade to honor the NBA champion Miami Heat.
Security measures consistent with such an event were in place, city officials said, and the raids were not expected to affect it.
Several terrorism investigations have had south Florida links. Several of the September 11 hijackers lived and trained in the area, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, and several plots by Cuban-Americans against Fidel Castro's government have been based in Miami.
Jose Padilla, a former resident once accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb in the US, is charged in Miami with being part of a support cell for Islamic extremists. Padilla's trial is set for this fall.
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