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May 8, 2007 5:45 pm US/Eastern
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Sources: Fort Dix Suspects Home-Grown Jihadists
Suspects Used "Skirmish" Paintball Range For Practice
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) ―
A major question surrounding the Fort Dix terror plot investigation is whether or not the suspects belong to al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization. Federal authorities have not yet answered that question directly, though they say there is no indication that the suspects are connected to any specific group.
CBS 2 sources also believe that the suspects were working on their own and say they are not tied to al-Qaeda, though they apparently were home-grown Islamic radicals inspired by the infamous terrorist group. Evidence of that was found on one of the suspect's computers where al-Qaeda recruitment video and other videos of Osama bin Laden were found.
The suspects had also apparently downloaded the last Will and Testament of two 9/11 hijackers, and it was several of those videos that had alerted a video store employee who was given a DVD of the videos to copy. When the employee saw the contents of the DVD, he immediately notified the FBI.
According to the indictment, "the DVD depicted 10 young men who appeared to be in their early twenties shooting assault weapons at a firing range in a militia-like style while calling out Jihad and shouting in Arabic, 'Allahu akbar,'" which means "God is great."
The FBI reportedly learned the men also practiced shooting at paintball ranges in the Poconos. The paintball range "Skirmish" in Jim Thorpe, Pa., was one of those questioned by agents.
"They came in here within the last six months and they asked if we could search out database and they had some names they wanted us to search our database for," Paul Fogal, President of Skirmish, told CBS 2.
Sources also say the suspects discussed attacking the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Lakehurst Naval Air Station, the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, and the Federal Building in Philadelphia before targeting Fort Dix.
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