Thaindian News

Washington, May 14 (IANS) Three Pakistani-origin Americans, including two clerics at mosques in Florida, and three Pakistanis have been charged with providing support to the Pakistani Taliban, a media report said Saturday.

Three US citizens, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, imam or a spiritual leader, of Miami Mosque, his son Izhar Khan, 24, also an imam in Florida, and another son Irfan Khan, 37, were arrested for supporting terrorist activities, the Wall Street Journal said.

Hafiz and Izhar were arrested Saturday in Miami. Irfan was arrested in Los Angeles.

Also charged are Amina Khan, her son Alam Zeb and Ali Rehman, all residents of Pakistan. They haven’t been arrested. Amina is a daughter of Hafiz, the report said.

The six are charged with conspiracy and providing material support to the Pakistani Taliban which has been designated by the US as a terror group.

Prosecutors allege that Hafiz and others helped send money through bank accounts and wire transfers to help the Pakistani Taliban sustain its fighters and buy weapons.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, is responsible for several major terror attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the 2010 Times Square bombing attempt.

On Friday, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a paramilitary training school in Pakistan that killed 89 people. The group said the twin suicide was a revenge for the US operation that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden May 2.

Miami US attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said: “Despite being an imam, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace. Instead, as today’s charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming.”

The indictment alleges that Hafiz ran a madrassa in the Swat region of Pakistan which he used to support the Pakistani Taliban. This included sending children from his madrassa to learn to kill Americans in Afghanistan, the journal reported.