WASHINGTON – Five young Americans captured in Pakistan are under investigation for possibly trying to meet up with a terror group, authorities said Wednesday. Two U.S. officials said one of the men left a “farewell” video behind saying Muslims must be defended and showing images of U.S. casualties.
Frantic relatives and worried FBI agents have been searching for the five college-age men for more than a week, since their disappearance in late November. The missing students have family roots in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area.
Two U.S. officials said one of the group they did not say which one left behind what investigators believe was a farewell video message, in which he talks about defending Muslims and shows images of U.S. casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Pakistan police officer Tahir Gujjar said five Americans were picked up in a raid on a house on Sarghoda in the eastern province of Punjab. He did not identify the five, but said three are of Pakistani descent, one is of Egyptian descent and the other has Yemeni heritage.
S.M. Imran Gardezi, press minister at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, said the men “are under arrest in Pakistan. The investigation is to see whether they had any links to any extremist groups.” No charges have been filed.
Pakistani regional police chief Mian Javed Islam told The Associated Press that the men were between 18 and 20 and spent the past few days in the city of Sarghoda, which is near an air base about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of the capital, Islamabad.
In Washington, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s local office said agents have been trying to help find the men.
