Children found in filthy conditions at a compound in New Mexico were being trained to carry out school shootings, prosecutors say.
According to court documents filed in the US, the 11 hungry children were being trained by Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, who is being held behind bars while police continue their investigation.
He was arrested along with four other adults, all of whom face child abuse charges.
Authorities say they discovered Ibn Wahhaj with multiple assault rifles and found a shooting range on the compound.
The children, aged between one and 15, were dressed in rags and had nothing but a few boxes of rice and potatoes for food.
Three women, believed to be the mothers of the children, and another man were also arrested.
The remains of a boy was found on the premises, but the child has not been formally identified.
The Taos County Sheriff has indicated that the remains appeared to belong to a boy of a similar age to four-year-old Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, who went missing in December in Jonesboro, Georgia.
The child's mother had reported him missing last year after Ibn Wahhaj said he wanted to perform an exorcism on him, then took him to the park and did not return.
Police had been searching for Ibn Wahhaj since.
Abdul-Ghani was not among those found at the compound.
Neighbours had been worried about squalid conditions at the remote location and say they had brought their concerns to authorities months before sheriffs raided the encampment.
The group had arrived in Amalia in December and had bought groceries and construction supplies, Taylor Anderson, an auto mechanic who lived nearby and helped them install solar panels, said.
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He said he eventually stopped visiting the compound, but some of the smaller children would turn up to play with those in nearby houses in the days after they moved in.
"We just figured they were doing what we were doing, getting a piece of land and getting off the grid," he said.
Children found in filthy conditions at a compound in New Mexico were being trained to carry out school shootings, prosecutors say.
According to court documents filed in the US, the 11 hungry children were being trained by Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, who is being held behind bars while police continue their investigation.
He was arrested along with four other adults, all of whom face child abuse charges.
Authorities say they discovered Ibn Wahhaj with multiple assault rifles and found a shooting range on the compound.
The children, aged between one and 15, were dressed in rags and had nothing but a few boxes of rice and potatoes for food.
Three women, believed to be the mothers of the children, and another man were also arrested.
The remains of a boy was found on the premises, but the child has not been formally identified.
The Taos County Sheriff has indicated that the remains appeared to belong to a boy of a similar age to four-year-old Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, who went missing in December in Jonesboro, Georgia.
The child's mother had reported him missing last year after Ibn Wahhaj said he wanted to perform an exorcism on him, then took him to the park and did not return.
Police had been searching for Ibn Wahhaj since.
Abdul-Ghani was not among those found at the compound.
Neighbours had been worried about squalid conditions at the remote location and say they had brought their concerns to authorities months before sheriffs raided the encampment.
The group had arrived in Amalia in December and had bought groceries and construction supplies, Taylor Anderson, an auto mechanic who lived nearby and helped them install solar panels, said.
More from US
He said he eventually stopped visiting the compound, but some of the smaller children would turn up to play with those in nearby houses in the days after they moved in.
"We just figured they were doing what we were doing, getting a piece of land and getting off the grid," he said.
