A US federal grand jury has charged eight leaders of the Palestinian resistance Jihad with running a criminal enterprise that supported terrorists and conspired to kill others, including two US citizens, Attorney General John Ashcroft said. Among those named in the indictment dated Wednesday was Damascus-based Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah and Sami al-Arian, a controversial University of South Florida engineering professor described by US authorities as leader of the Gaza-based group in North America.

"The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is one of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world," Ashcroft claimed at a news conference announcing the indictments.

The resistance Islamist group has claimed responsibility for several anti-Israeli resistance bombings, including two in which US nationals were killed.

"As the indictment details, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is responsible for the murder of over 100 innocent people in Israel and the occupied territories, including at least two young Americans," Ashcroft claimed.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents earlier arrested four of the eight, including Arian, Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut.

The other four, Shallah, Mohammed Tasir Hassan Al-Khatib, the group's treasurer; Abdulaziz Awda, a founder and spiritual leader of the group, and Bashir Nafi, another founder and leader of the group, are still at large outside the United States.

Searches also were underway in six locations in the Tampa, Florida, area and one location in Illinois, he added.

The detailed, 50-count indictment -- based in part on recently declassified wiretaps -- accuses the eight of operating a criminal enterprise since 1984 that supported terrorism.

Aside from racketeering and conspiracy to kill and maim people outside the United States, the eight are charged with providing material support to terrorism, violating emergency economic sanctions and engaging in various acts of interstate extortion, perjury, obstruction and immigration fraud.

All of the defendants, if convicted, face potential life prison terms, Ashcroft said.

"Our message to them and to others like them is clear," he said.

"We make no distinction between those who carry out terrorist attacks and those who knowingly finance, manage or supervise terrorist organizations. We will bring justice to the full network of terror."

Arian has been under investigation since allegations emerged in 1995 that a think-tank he co-founded at the University of South Florida was linked to Islamic Jihad. In October of that year, Shallah, a USF instructor and researcher at the think-tank, became the group's leader.

Federal authorities had not previously filed charges against Arian. The university suspended him and barred him from campus in September 2001 after he appeared on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" talk show in the wake of deadly terror attacks blamed on Islamist activists.

"It's all about politics," a handcuffed Arian told reporters as he was led into the FBI building in Tampa.

Ballut, a Palestinian businessman, was arrested in Chicago and brought before a federal judge who was ordered to be sent to Florida to face the charges against him.

A family spokesman, speaking outside Ballut's home in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, denied suggestions that the tailor has links with terrorists.

"He has no ties to terrorist activities," said Mamoun Al-Rafai. "He is a loving husband with four children, a man who is active in the community."

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft(R) announces the arrest of a Palestinian professor and three others on charges of providing financial support to terrorists. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
- Feb 20 8:14