CHICAGO -- A group of young men seized in a Miami warehouse has been charged in a federal indictment with conspiring with al-Qaida to "levy war against the United States" by committing acts of violence including blowing up Chicago's Sears Tower.

The seven individuals indicted by a federal grand jury were taken into custody Thursday when authorities swarmed the warehouse in the Liberty City area, removing a metal door with a blow torch. The indictment also alleges plans to blow a federal building in Miami in conjunction with the al-Qaida terrorist network.

One neighbor said the suspects had been sleeping in the warehouse while running what seemed to be a "military boot camp."

Video | Images | Full Indictment

"They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy," Gonzales said at a news conference at the Justice Department, where he discussed the purported plot against the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami.

The seven -- ranging in age from 22 to 32 -- were expected to appear in court later Friday.

According to the indictment handed up Thursday, a young man identified as Narseal Batiste, beginning in November 2005, recruited and trained the others "for a mission to wage war against the United States government," including a plot to destroy the Sears Tower.

To obtain money and support for their mission, the conspirators sought help from al-Qaida, pledged an oath to the terrorist organization and supported an al-Qaida plot to destroy FBI buildings, the four-count indictment charged.

Batiste met several times in December 2005 with a person purporting to be an al-Qaida member and asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles and $50,000 in cash to help him build an "'Islamic Army' to wage jihad'," the indictment said. It said that Batiste said he would use his "soldiers" to destroy the Sears Tower.

In February 2006, it said, Batiste told the "al-Qaida representative" that he and his five soldiers wanted to attend al-Qaida training and planned a "full ground war" against the United States in order to "kill all the devils we can." His mission would "be just as good or greater than 9/11," the indictment accused Batiste of boasting.

The seven defendants were charged with conspiring to "maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive" the FBI building in North Miami Beach and the Sears Tower in Chicago.

They were are also charged with conspiring "to levy war against the government of the United States, and to oppose by force the authority thereof."

The alleged terrorists -- five U.S. citizens, a legal immigrant from Haiti and a Haitian national who was in this country illegally -- took an oath to al-Qaida and sought help from someone they believed was a member of the terrorist organization.

One of the suspects is apparently from Chicago's southeast side.

"The convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism," Gonzales said. "Today terrorist threats come from smaller more loosely defined cells not affiliated with al-Qaida but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message, and left unchecked these homegrown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaida."

NBC5's Phil Rogers reported that sources told him privately that city authorities knew about the Sears Tower plot on Wednesday, but workers in the tower said they were not informed until the story broke Thursday night.

"You never have any idea what's going on, and you feel like, 'OK, maybe it's over. Things have subsided.' But things always flare up," worker Megan Kelly said. "And just when you start to feel like, 'OK, maybe it's safe. We don't have to worry as much anymore,' (this happens and) it makes you nervous again."

The group had been infiltrated by the FBI, and was thus not considered likely at all to have carried out an attack. However, reportedly, the takedown of the group had to be moved up because of internal dissension, even possible violence, between members, Rogers reported.

The Sears Tower may seem like a vulnerable target, but Rogers reported that the building consists of nine column-free tubes, bound together to form a veritable fortress. Any attack would almost certainly have to be carried out from very close by, and following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the building was equipped with sophisticated detectors, capable of sniffing out chemicals such as the ammonium nitrate that was supposedly going to be used in the attack.

Rogers reported that the main question is not whether this attack was likely to have succeeded, but exactly why it was planned and who these suspects are.

Workers in the tower said they were frightened by the news.

"I think it's pretty scary that there are still threats like that, and at any given time, somebody can just come in and do what they want," one worker said. "And I think it jeopardizes a lot of people down here, and we really need to start focusing more on the security of the people down here."

"You still worry about it, even though we have fire drills and all that kind of thing," Kelly said. "It still is a concern -- especially when I tell people where I work. That's their first question."

Managers at the Sears Tower said security in the building, including the Skydeck, has been ramped up. Tower officials said they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats, and that Thursday was no exception.

Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement that the investigation was an ongoing operation and that more details would be released Friday.

"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, spokesman for FBI headquarters in Washington. He declined further comment.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, questioned about the case during an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," said he couldn't offer many details because "it's an ongoing operation."

"We are conducting a number of arrests and searches" in Miami, Mueller said, which were expected to be wrapped up Friday morning.

"This is an example of close cooperation of ourselves working with state and local law enforcement to address a threat," Mueller told King.

The suspects were apparently in the early stages of the plot, officials said.

Details Of Alleged Terror Plot Released

In addition to Batiste, the defendants were identified as Burson Augustin; Patrick Abraham, or "Brother Pat"; Stanley Grant Phanor, or "Brother Sunni"; Naudimar Herrera or "Brother Naudy"; Lyglenson Lemorin, also known as "Brother Levi" or Brother Levi-El"; and Rotschild Augustine, or "Brother Rot."

The indictment described the alleged scheme this way:

At a meeting on March 16 at a warehouse in the Miami area, the seven defendants discussed a plot to bomb FBI buildings in five cities, it said, adding that each swore an oath of loyalty to al-Qaida there with the purported al-Qaida representative.

The person they believed to be an al-Qaida representative gave Batiste a digital video camera, which Batiste said he would use to record pictures of the North Miami Beach FBI building, the indictment said. At a March 26 meeting, it went on, Batiste and Augustin provided the "al-Qaida representative" with photographs of the FBI building, as well as video footage of other Miami government buildings, and discussed the plot to bomb the FBI building.

But on May 24, the indictment said, Batiste told the "al-Qaida representative" that he was experiencing delays "because of various problems within his organization." Batiste said he wanted to continue his mission and his relationship with al-Qaida nonetheless, the document said.

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