Pakistan Charges 5 Americans With Conspiring With Terrorist Groups

A Pakistani court Monday charged five Americans with conspiring with banned groups to plot terrorist attacks, CNN reports. The Americans -- two are Pakistani-American, two Yemeni-American, and one Egyptian-American -- were charged under the country's anti-terrorism act and are being held until the next hearing in the case on Jan. 18. If convicted, they could received life sentences.

Pakistani government officials said the five men were college students who "were of the opinion that a jihad must be waged against the infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world."

The five, all from the Washington, D.C., suburbs, were arrested in early December on their way to North Waziristan to receive training from al-Qaeda and the Taliban to fight American troops in Afghanistan. The FBI questioned the group on Dec. 10, before they were charged with any crimes, and requested that they be returned to the United States. Pakistan responded that it would complete its own investigation before handing them over.