An Indian engineer and his brother from Hyderabad have been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and indicted by a US court along with two others, for helping terrorist group Al-Qaeda and funding one of the group's leaders.

Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, (36) and his brother Yahya Farooq Mohammad, (37) were indicted along with Asif Ahmed Salim, (35) and his brother Sultane Room Salim, (40), on charges of providing financial support to Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, to wage violent jihad against America, a report in the Times of India adds.

The FBI arrested Ibrahim in Texas on Thursday, while Sultane was arrested in Ohio. Farooq and Asif lived in the UAE and the former did his engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad before leaving the country for further studies.

The Indian Express quotes an e-mail sent by Farooq to Zubair on January 31, 2005, where he wrote: “The Muslims there (in India) are our brothers. The non-Muslims are our enemies. We do dawah (proselytize) to them in the best manner. But if they refuse, and when we have the capability, we offer them to live as dhimmis (non-Muslims under the protection of Muslim law) or else face the sword. We will never have a subservient attitude for them...There is a time for dawah, and a time for jihad.” 

The IE report also adds that the men exchanged jihadist literature produced by al-Qaeda, including an interview with slain Pakistani Taliban commander Muhammad Illyas Kashmiri, hailing the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.

Quoting the indictment, TOI adds that on July 22, 2009, Yahya Farooq travelled with two other people to Yemen to meet Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. They were unable to meet with Awlaki, so instead travelled to Sana, Yemen, to meet with one of his associates, who was given roughly $ 22,000 to be passed on to Awlaki. 

Al-Awlaki was killed in 2011 after a drone strike by the United States.

The 72-page indictment also adds that the four people questioned, made false statements to the FBI.