US Christian militia 'in terror plot'

Eight men and one woman were arrested over the weekend in raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

FBI agents moved quickly against the group, called Hutaree, because its members were planning an attack sometime next month in the hope of sparking an uprising to overthrow the government, prosecutors said.

Authorities seized guns in the raids but would not say whether they found any explosives.

The arrests have dealt "a severe blow to a dangerous organisation that today stands accused of conspiring to levy war against the US," Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Authorities said the arrests underscored the dangers of home-grown Right-wing extremism of the sort seen in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people when a rental truck bomb exploded outside a federal building shortly after 9am on April 19. Among the dead were babies and young children who were attending a daycare centre. Five hundred others were injured.

Court charges said the Hutaree group began military-style training in 2008, learning how to shoot guns and make and set off bombs, in preparation for an "impending war" with their enemies, including local and state law enforcement who were deemed the "footsoldiers" of the federal government.

David Brian Stone, 44, of Clayton, Michigan, and one of his sons were identified as the ringleaders. Stone, who was known as "Captain Hutaree," organised the group in paramilitary fashion and members were assigned secret names, prosecutors said.

"It started out as a Christian thing," Stone's ex-wife, Donna, said. "You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far."

She said her ex-husband pulled her son into the movement. Another of David Stone's sons was arrested yesterday.

Prosecutors said David Stone had identified police officers as potential targets. He and other members discussed setting off bombs at a police funeral, using a fake emergency call to lure an officer to his death, killing an officer after a traffic stop or at a remote rural location, or attacking the family of an officer.

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to strongholds protected by trip-wired explosives and improvised explosive devices for a violent stand-off with the law. They are said to have stockpiled weapons and ammunition, uniforms, communications equipment and vehicles as well as medical and other supplies in preparation for their armed conflict.

"It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more widespread uprising against the government," the indictment said.

The charges against the eight include plotting to levy war against the US, possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, teaching the use of explosives, and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The defendants were jailed, awaiting bail hearings.

Hutaree says on its website its name means "Christian warrior" and describes the word as part of a secret language that few are privileged to know. The group quotes several Bible passages and declares: "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ ... Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."