By LARRY CELONA and BILL SANDERSON

December 30, 2002 -- Up to 19 men of Islamic background have entered the United States illegally in the last few days on a possible terror mission, law-enforcement sources told The Post yesterday.

Pictures of five of the men wanted for questioning are posted on the FBI's Web site.

Those five and the remaining 14 are believed to have reached the United States by using phony IDs to travel through Britain and then Canada, the sources said.

Exactly what the men may be up to is unknown. Officials also don't know if the men have specific targets in mind.

But The Post's sources said the 19 are believed to be scattered through several U.S. cities, including New York.

The group planned to be in place in the United States today, said the sources.

The men are believed to come from Pakistan and "surrounding countries," the sources said.

Publicly, the FBI says it is looking for just five men, who it says should be deemed armed and dangerous. They're identified as Abid Noraiz Ali, 25; Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, 21; Mustafa Khan Owasi, 33; Adil Pervez, 19; and Akbar Jamal, 28.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2002

Answers

But the FBI warned that all the names and birth dates may be bogus.

The FBI said it had no indication the five were linked to terrorist activities, but still wanted to question them "based upon information developed in the course of ongoing investigations."

The bureau said it was working with Customs, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Transportation Security Agency to find the men.

INS spokesman Dan Kane said yesterday the immigration agency has "implemented additional measures to look for these individuals."

The FBI said it has alerted law-enforcement agencies around the country and the world. "Anyone with any information pertaining to these individuals is asked to contact their nearest FBI office," the bureau said.

The FBI also takes tips through its Web site, www.fbi.gov.

The NYPD is making a special effort to find the men, and a bulletin will be distributed with information to help officers identify them, the sources said.

It's not unusual for terrorists to try to strike over the year-end holidays.

Islamic terrorist Richard Reid allegedly tried to blow up an American Airlines jet over the Atlantic Ocean with shoe bombs three days before Christmas 2001.

And in December 1999, authorities captured Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national later convicted of plotting the millennium bomb attack on Los Angeles International Airport.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2002