NEW YORK - US federal agents reportedly arrested two 16-year-old girls last month on suspicion that they intended to become suicide bombers.
The New York Times, citing a document provided by a federal agent, said Thursday that the teenagers -- illegal immigrants from Guinea and Bangladesh -- were being held in a family detention facility in Pennsylvania.
The document said the FBI believed the girls presented "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers."
However, the Times also quoted a government official who cast doubt on the actual threat posed by the teenagers, as well as a spokesman for one of the girls` families who suggested that the accusation stemmed from a misunderstanding over a school essay.
"There are doubts about these claims, and no evidence has been found that such a plot was in the works," said the government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A senior law enforcement official in New York voiced the same doubts, the newspaper said.
The Guinean girl entered the United States with her family in 1990 on a visitor visa, and lives with her parents and four siblings who are US citizens.
The Bangladeshi entered the country in 1994 and her mother unsuccessfully applied for asylum. Two of her three siblings were born here.
Adem Carroll, a community activist with the Islamic Circle of North America, said the investigation of the Bangladeshi girl began after her parents filed a police complaint over a family dispute.
Although the complaint was withdrawn, police and immigration agents confiscated her computer and essays she had written as part of a home schooling program.
One essay concerned suicide, although the family maintained that it asserted that suicide is against Islamic law.
The case appeared to be "an investigation that`s gotten out of hand, like a lot of other so-called terror investigations," Carroll told the Times.
"I`m confident that things will be cleared up," he added.
Both legal and illegal immigrants -- particularly those from Muslim countries -- have complained of being unfairly targetted by law enforcement agencies since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
04/07/2005 17:01 GMT