NEW YORK, May 8: Six men described by US authorities as Islamic radicals have been arrested on charges of plotting to attack soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in the northeastern state of New Jersey, according to US district attorney office.

The men appeared in the district court in Camden, New Jersey, to face charges of conspiracy to kill US servicemen.

Authorities said the six were planning to enter the army base and kill as many soldiers as possible.

A spokesman for the US Attorney’s office said four of the suspects were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey.

He said most of the suspects had been in the US for a long time, and that some were US citizens and some were illegal immigrants.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the six men were not charged with being members of an international terrorism organisation and that so far there was no direct evidence of ties to foreign terrorist groups.

Officers arrested the men late Monday after they tried to buy automatic weapons from a gun-seller who was secretly working with federal authorities.

It was a joint federal and local investigation.

A law-enforcement officer said the attack was stopped in the planning stages.

FBI officials according to one report were quoted as saying the men had been plotting and practicing for the attack for months.

They said the men had videotaped their practice sessions and made the mistake of bringing it to a retail store seeking to get a DVD copy. A store employee alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officials started investigating the group.