Three men accused of plotting attacks on Nato summit

CHICAGO // Three men were accused of planning terrorist attacks during the Nato summit in Chicago, where world leaders including US President Barack Obama are gathering this weekend, the county prosecutor said.

"Brian Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly were charged overnight with criminal acts relating to terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism and possession of explosives," Anita Alvarez, the local prosecutor said Saturday in a statement.

The men were accused of making Molotov cocktails to hurl at the president's re-election campaign headquarters in Chicago, at the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's former chief of staff, and at financial institutions and police stations, according to a statement issued by Ms Alvarez and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

"The defendants are self-proclaimed anarchists, and members of the 'Black Bloc' group, who travelled together from Florida to the Chicago area in preparation for committing terrorist acts of violence and destruction," Ms Alvarez and Superintendent McCarthy said.

Mr Church, 22, is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Mr Chase, 27, is originally from Keene, New Hampshire; and Mr Betterly, 24, told police he is from Massachusetts, according to prosecutors and police.