New York Police arrested two men at John F. Kennedy International Airport late on Saturday night, as the two were allegedly heading for a meeting with militant groups in Somalia.

The two were booked while they were trying to board flights for Egypt. They have been held under charges of conspiring to commit, an act of international terrorism through a group tied to Al Qaeda.

Both men, aged not more than 20, are residents of New Jersey. They have been under investigation since October 2006.

According to a unanimous official, both these men are unmarried American citizens.

The U. S. Attorney's Office said that the pair is supposed to appear in U. S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday.

Federal and local law enforcement officials have been investigating the homes of both the men.

They have also gained access to the men's social circle and told that the suspects were not heading any attack in the New York-New Jersey area. However, they were aiming to join the Al Shabaab youth movement to fight against Americans in Somalia, said the authorities.

The arrests have been observed in the wake of a failed attempt of exploding a car bomb in New York's Times Square, reported last month, coupled with an incident on Christmas Day wherein a 23-year-old Nigerian tried to inflate a Detroit-bound airliner by blowing up explosives hidden in his underwear.