Two of the men are already under arrest and serving prison terms in Kingston, Ont. for attempting to smuggle guns and ammunition from the U.S.

The arrests came as part of the largest operation carried out under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act.

Police allege the suspects were inspired by al-Qaeda and planned to make bombs to attack targets in Ontario. None of the allegations has been proven in court.

The 12 men have been charged with knowingly participating, directly or indirectly, in the activity of a terrorist group.

Activities around Toronto area

Those charges relate to activities in Mississauga, Ont., Toronto and the Township of Ramara, which is located about 150 kilometres north of Toronto.

On Monday, six of the men were also charged with planning to cause a deadly explosion.

Three of the suspects have been charged with importing firearms and prohibited ammunition, and supplying prohibited weapons.

Ten of the men are charged with engaging in terrorism-related training. Residents in Ramara reported hearing gunshots from an area where men were seen dressed in camouflage gear.

As many as 400 police officers and security officials were involved in the arrests.

"We're going to follow every investigative lead and any person that we find who has aided, facilitated or participated will be arrested and brought before the courts," said Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"When the charges are read into the court you'll learn quite a bit more and we prefer to get the intricacies out through the court."

The Mounties say the arrested men had taken delivery of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be mixed with fuel oil to produce a powerful explosive.

It took just one tonne of the fertilizer to build the 1995 Oklahoma City bomb that killed 168 people.

Charges against the men include trying to build bombs and training, or being trained, as terrorists, according to court documents released on Monday.

Places mentioned by newspapers as possible targets for the group included Toronto's landmark CN Tower and the Peace Tower of the Parliament Building in Ottawa.

Canadian newspapers said the men had a training camp in a wooded area to the north of Toronto. Nearby residents had in the past fretted about night-time gunfire and wondered what the police helicopters were looking for as they buzzed overhead the following day.

McDonell told Reuters it would be up to the court to decide whether to impose a gag order that would sharply restrict what the media can say about the charges.

"For a lot of the information, we prefer to introduce it through the courts in the first instance so that we're not prejudicing anyone's chances for a fair trial. If the court says we're free to talk, I'll be talking," he said.

The men and youths arrested were all Canadian citizens or Canadian residents. Seven worshiped at the same mosque. Two were already in jail on weapons charges.

Muslims make up some 2 percent of Canada's population of 33 million, and community leaders fear the arrests will lead to attacks on their community. Vandals smashed the windows of a Toronto mosque on Saturday in what police described as a hate crime.

A Muslim prayer leader who knew the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, told The Associated Press on Monday that Jamal's sermons at a storefront mosque were "filled with hate" against Canada.

Authorities said more arrests were expected, possibly this week, as police pursue leads about a group that they say was inspired by the violent ideology of the al-Qaida terror network.

"We've by no means finished this investigation," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told AP. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."

Although both Canadian and U.S. officials said over the weekend there was no indication the purported terror group had targets outside Ontario, McDonell told AP on Monday that there are "foreign connections," but he would not elaborate.

In Washington, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said President Bush spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the case Monday afternoon, but gave no specifics of what was discussed.

"Prime Minister Harper called the president to update him on the situation involving the arrest of 17 individuals in Toronto who are charged with terrorism-related offenses," spokesman Frederick Jones said.

A U.S. law enforcement official said investigators were looking for connections between those detained in Canada and suspected Islamic militants held in the United States, Britain, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden.

American authorities have established that two men from Georgia who were charged this year in a terrorism case had been in contact with some of the Canadian suspects via computer, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Prosecutors have said the Georgia men, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, traveled to Washington to shoot "casing videos" of the Capitol and other potential targets.

Sadequee, 19, a U.S. citizen who grew up near Atlanta, is accused of lying to federal authorities during an FBI terrorism investigation. Ahmed, 21, a Georgia Tech student, faces a charge he provided material support and resources for terrorism.

In Atlanta, Ahmed's lawyer, Jack Martin, told AP there may have been some connection between his client and the suspects, but he insisted it wasn't part of any terrorism plot.

"Other than having the possibility that they may have met at some point, I know of no indication that anyone believes my client had anything to do with what these guys were up to," Martin said.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said the 17 suspects in Canada are an example of a type of group that authorities have been concerned about for some time: self-organized, ad hoc cells of homegrown extremists, a development first seen in Britain.

The official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada's government rightfully considered the 17 a serious threat because there was evidence the group was far along in planning attacks.

"It came to a point where our concern for the safety and security of the public far outweighed our appetite for collecting evidence," said McDonell, the RCMP deputy commissioner.

The U.S. counterterrorism official added there was no reason to believe the group had U.S. targets in mind, but also no reason to exclude the potential.

Canadian police say there is no evidence the suspect group had ties to al-Qaida, but describe its members as being sympathetic to jihadist ideology. Officials are concerned that many of the 17 suspects were roughly 20 years old and had been radicalized in a short amount of time.

The Ontario Court of Justice released details of the charges faced by the 12 adult men arrested Friday and Saturday. The men are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing.

Each is charged with one count of participating in a terrorist group.

Three of them - Fahim Ahmad, 21, Mohammed Dirie, 22, and Yasim Abdi Mohamed, 24 - also are charged with importing weapons and ammunition for the purpose of terrorist activity.

Nine face charges of receiving training from a terrorist group, while four are charged with providing training. Six also are charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

No information was released on the five young males arrested due to federal privacy laws that protect minors.

Canadian media have reported that the suspects attended a training camp in Washago, a rural community 90 north of Toronto. The National Post quoted unidentified residents in the wooded area as saying they heard machine-gun fire and saw men dressed in camouflage carrying equipment.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police displayed evidence Saturday that included camouflage uniforms, flashlights, walkie-talkies and detonators, but have refused to confirm whether they were used at a training facility.

Officials announced Saturday that the suspects were arrested after the group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be mixed with fuel oil to make a powerful explosive. One-third that amount was used in the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

The Toronto Star reported that undercover Mounties delivered the substance to the group in a sting operation. The Star, citing unidentified sources, said the suspects actually received a harmless substance.

Some people who know the suspects said they were astonished by the arrests.

But Faheem Bukhari, a director of the Mississauga Muslim Community Center, said Jamal, the oldest suspect, had taken to giving hateful sermons and preaching intolerance to young Muslims at a small storefront mosque in Mississauga, a city near Toronto where six of the suspects lived.

"These youth were very fun-loving guys, soccer-loving guys, and then all of sudden they were not associating with guys they used to," Bukhari told AP, referring to some of the younger suspects.

He said Jamal once told "the audience that the Canadian Forces were going to Afghanistan to rape women."

Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in southern Afghanistan to bolster Afghan reconstruction and combat Taliban militants.

Bukhari's description contrasted with the view of another prayer leader at the mosque, who said while Jamal was "aggressive" in his sermons but never promoted hatred or violence.

"I will say that they were steadfast, religious people. There's no doubt about it. But here we always preach peace and moderation," Qamrul Khanson said Sunday.

Over the weekend, 12 men and five youths were arrested in the Toronto area after an investigation into an alleged bombing plot.

Police say the suspects were "inspired by" al-Qaeda, the militant group that launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States.

In the wake of the arrests, politicians from New York and Michigan publicly expressed concern over what they characterized as lax immigration and asylum policies, as well as border security practices, that could make Canada a potential launching pad for attacks on American soil.

"I'm not going to get into characterizing al-Qaeda penetration and alleged al-Qaeda penetration in Canada," Snow said. "I think it's worth saying that U.S. and Canadian authorities have been pretty vigorous in working the intelligence on this. And as you know, this has become a hot political issue in Canada. But far be it for me to try to get involved in internal Canadian politics."

RCMP and CSIS officials have alleged on the weekend that the suspects were "inspired by al-Qaeda" but that there didn't appear to be a direct link with the militant group.

Canada to send team to meet with U.S. lawmakers, security officials

CBC News learned on Monday that top Canadian security officials will travel to Washington, D.C., to reassure American officials that Canada is determined to stay on top of militant activity within its borders.

Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, said the visits to the U.S. capital are designed "to show Americans Canada is just as diligent and successful in fighting terrorists as the Americans."

Top officials from the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and military intelligence bodies will make the trip within the next few weeks, the CBC's Henry Champ reported Monday.

As well as getting together with counterparts in the American intelligence community, they will meet with key lawmakers on Capitol Hill to address weekend claims that Canada has lax immigration and asylum policies that attract extremists, creating a security concern for the U.S.

Champ said Canadian cabinet ministers might also travel to Washington to help the embassy counteract any adverse impressions left by the arrests.

Ottawa will deal with U.S. 'inaccuracies'

The arrests have sparked claims south of the border that Canada could be a staging ground for future attacks.

"Americans should be very concerned. There's a large al-Qaeda presence in Canada ... because of their very liberal immigration laws, because of how political asylum is granted so easily," Republican congressman Peter King said on the weekend.

Speaking Monday during question period, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would "deal with inaccuraces" in the U.S. media.

"The media in general has covered this accurately," said Harper. "We will deal with inaccuraces in some circles."

By mid-June, some 300 Guard soldiers from Arizona will be working along the state's part of the border. Eventually, 6,000 troops will be patrolling the entire border.

The Guard members in Arizona will work on building new fences, improving roads and adding to lighting.

They are not expected to perform any significant enforcement duties. Instead, they've been brought in to free up U.S. immigration agents and allow them to focus on enforcement along the border.

This past weekend, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to deploy Guard members from his state along the border.

"They will assist in backup and support roles and the vast majority of our troops will not be armed," Schwarzenegger said.

"I never liked the idea of sending our National Guard troops to the border because that is a federal responsibility," he said adding that the California Guard's role will be limited primarily to truck and road repairs.

With the exception of the Salvation Army, recruits in all the world's armies are trained to fight -- and to kill. Consequently, when armies are dispatched overseas and tasked with jobs intended more for urban police forces than the military, trouble is bound to break out. As it did in Iraq.

Despite the best training in the world, it remains difficult to take an elite fighting force, such as the United States Marine Corps, place it an hostile environment, and expect it to perform as would a metropolitan police force.

In no way is this meant to excuse what happened in Haditha last November, when U.S. Marines allegedly killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children. The incident occurred after an improvised explosive device killed a Marine.

Initial reports from the U.S. military stated that an explosion killed the civilians. However, it later emerged that the Iraqis had died from gunshot wounds.

For the Marines, a tight-knit brotherhood of warriors who pride themselves on strict discipline and honor, the lamentable incident in Haditha comes as a blemish on the reputation of the entire Corps. The Marines, who call themselves "the few, the proud," are a relatively small number of men -- and also a few women. They number fewer than 180,000, far less than the 1 million-plus soldiers serving in the U.S. Army.

"If the incident at Haditha proves true, and Marines murdered innocent people, I attribute it first to bad leadership on the ground there, and secondly to the burnout of these Marines," Charles Henderson, a former Marine who served in Vietnam and Beirut, and who is the author of several books on the war in Southeast Asia, told United Press International.

Henderson, whose last book "Goodnight Saigon" won the general nonfiction Book of the Year Award for 2006 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, also attributes another major factor to consider: combat fatigue.

"Our American fighting men and women are good people who will lay their lives on the line to protect innocent people; they just do not go around murdering them," said Henderson. "In Vietnam, most Marines and soldiers pulled one 13-month-long tour of duty and then went home."

That is far from the case in Iraq, where most Marines and soldiers serve two tours of duty, and many are expected to sign up for a third. Long deployments in combat zones," said Henderson, "causes soldiers to become hardened, and become angry. And when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld proposes to cut military strength, I lose my breath when I hear the absurd notion mentioned!

"I must keep my faith with these and all Marines. I know them well, and they are not murderers."

"The Marine Corps has two missions; to make Marines and win battles," as the Corp advertises on its Web site. The Marines are compromised of smart, adaptable men and women, and serve as the "aggressive tip of the American military spear."

Note that one of the two missions is to "win battles."

Winning battles usually involves killing the enemy; sadly in urban warfare innocent people are caught by the demons of war, as was the case in Haditha, a relatively obscure town until last week. It now joins, with Abu Ghraib prison, the roster of infamous places in Iraq.

In reviewing the incident in Haditha it would be appropriate for the Department of Defense to rethink deploying fighting forces in situations that are neither war nor peace -- such as Iraq today.

It is worth noting that during the initial combat phase of the war, in the three weeks it took the U.S. and British military to drive across the Kuwaiti border in southern Iraq, and fight their way through the entire length of the country, up to the capital and beyond, all units performed as expected. The coalition troops were in their natural environment; that of trained soldiers engaged in the art of war, something for which they had long trained.

In some ways what is happening in Iraq today is analogous to the situation in which the Marines found themselves when President Ronald Reagan ordered them deployed to Lebanon in the early 1980s.

As in the post-heavy combat operations period in Iraq, so too in Lebanon in 1983, the Marines found themselves involved in what was basically a police action rather than a combat operation. In Iraq it was civilians who were killed, this time.

Twenty-three years ago in Lebanon it was the Marines who were massacred. They lost 241 men when a terrorist drove a truck filled with explosives into a building adjacent to Beirut International Airport that housed the Marines.

Lebanon, much like the post-heavy combat phase Iraq finds itself in today, fell into a limbo-like situation where neither all-out war, nor real peace exists. The result is added strain on the soldiers and Marines who are not trained for that type of situation.

As the United States and its Western European allies find themselves more and more involved in spreading democracy -- in other words, dispatching troops around the world to carry out functions traditionally reserved more for police forces than the military, it might be the right time to reassess and revaluate the role expected of that military.

Maybe this calls for the creation of a new branch in the military, something more along the lines of the French gendarmes, or the Italian Carabinieri -- a sort of paramilitary police force, usually dependent upon the Ministry of the Interior rather than the Ministry of Defense.

Some people say incident such as what happened in Haditha happens in every war. That may be true, but nevertheless it remains unacceptable.

"My greatest argument about this war is that the Bush administration is failing miserably in its leadership role because it is allowing political priorities to decide what should be strategic, tactical and military moral decisions," said Henderson.

"Currently U.S. Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are investigating," said Andrea McCauley, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

The incident did not "appear to be a security threat," said one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

U.S. authorities restricted airspace around the three major Washington area airports after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

All pilots with permission to fly into or through Washington airspace -- mainly commercial flights -- must transmit special identification codes to air traffic controllers.

In 2004, the plane carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher to former President Ronald Reagan's funeral entered the restricted airspace, sparking an evacuation of the Capitol and panic due to miscommunication between the Federal Aviation Administration and law enforcement.

The latest plane scare came just days after Canadian officials arrested 17 purported al Qaeda sympathizers who police say planned to blow up high-profile targets in Ottawa and Toronto.

Officers have said they had "no choice" but to carry out the Forest Gate raid after getting "specific intelligence".

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, was treated in hospital for a wounded shoulder after the raid on Friday morning.

He was then transferred to Paddington Green high security police station, but it was only on Monday afternoon that doctors said he had recovered enough for questioning.

Police are questioning both brothers about involvement in planning or carrying out terrorism acts.

His brother, 20-year-old Abul Koyair, is also being held on suspicion of being involved in a terrorist plot. Both men deny any involvement.

Police expect to ask magistrates on Wednesday for permission to continue holding the two suspects for up to 14 days.

Dr Bari, who was recently elected as head of the MCB, visited Forest Gate to listen to the "evident concerns" of Muslims in the area.

"The danger is the trust between the community and the police may be broken. The community feels very vulnerable."

He said this was a "crucial time" for the Muslim community.

'No choice'

"People want to know what exactly happened and about the intelligence - is it genuine information, is it flawed - these are the questions police have to answer as soon as possible."

Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman said they had "no choice" but to carry out the raid.

Police said "specific intelligence" prompted them to raid the house, looking for a chemical device - which they have yet to find, although documents and computers have been removed for analysis.

They said the search of the terraced house in Lansdown Road could continue until the end of the week.

Dr Bari said the search should be speeded up because "three or four days' frustration, confusion and anger in the community is not good".

"Trust could be an issue. Trust could break down if things are not clarified as soon as possible."

A former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Paul Lever, said police had to act on information they received.

Dilemma

"Intelligence virtually never gives you 100% confidence or certainty.

"It gives you perhaps grounds for suspicion and in the circumstances that sadly we're now in, the penalty of not taking action if you have some grounds for suspicion is potentially horrendous and that's the dilemma that the security service and the police face," he said.

Mr Kahar's solicitor Kate Roxburgh has said her client was shot by an officer at close range as he came down a flight of stairs.

The shooting is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Mr Koyair's solicitor, Julian Young, said his client had already been questioned three times, but no specific allegation had been put to him.

The unrest follows similar clashes in two northern Paris suburbs last week and raises fears of a repeat of
last November's nationwide riots.

Run-down housing estates in both suburbs were the epicentre of last year's riots which spread to some 300 high-immigration French towns, and relations between police and local youths remains extremely tense.

Last year's nationwide riots were fuelled by anger at racial discrimination, a lack of educational and employment prospects and police harassment.

Some 10,000 vehicles were torched and more than 3,200 people arrested in three weeks of unrest, which prompted the government to declare a national state of emergency.