ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents had planned  to use five Americans, now detained in Pakistan, who had  contacted the militants via the Internet, to carry out attacks  in the US-allied country, a police official said yesterday.

Usman Anwar, police chief in Sargodha, where the men were  arrested this month, said emails had revealed plans for the  young men from Virginia to travel to a Pakistani nuclear power  plant.

“We believe that they were supposed to be used inside  Pakistan,” Anwar told Reuters by telephone.

“In their last email to the Taliban, we found they mentioned  the Chashma Nuclear Plant and that’s why they were going to  Mianwali (district).”

Anwar declined to give details because police were still  interrogating the suspects.

The case has illustrated how easy it is for anyone to pursue  dreams of joining militant jihad through cyber channels, a  worrying reality for Pakistan, already struggling on the ground  to contain a Taliban insurgency.

Washington is pressuring Pakistan to root out militants in  lawless tribal areas who cross the border to attack Western  forces in Afghanistan. But it is a sensitive issue.

Pilotless US drone aircraft attacks on suspected militants  on Pakistani soil have already infuriated many Pakistanis.

A drone aicraft attacked a suspected militant target in  northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing five people,  intelligence officials said.

Two missiles hit a house in North Waziristan in the attack.  Two people other people were wounded, the officials said.

The possibility of militants attempting to attack Pakistan’s  nuclear weapons alarms Western powers, although analysts say it  is highly unlikely.