Is Phoenix becoming a hotbed of radical Islamist activity? The FBI is investigating a string of incidents in the area to determine if that's the case, the Arizona Republic reports.

While the episodes appear unrelated, family ties and other connections have triggered the scrutiny. It started with the infamous "flying imams" case in which six clerics traveling to a conference in 2006 were removed from a US Airways flight after passengers complained about their suspicious behavior.

Then in March, 20 young Muslim men ventured to a recreation area off a desert road for some target shooting. The group fired off between 500 and 1,000 rounds using assault rifles, a sniper rifle and other guns. Police charged six men with weapons violations. One of those charged is the son of one of the imams from the US Airways incident.

In August, the father of another young man charged with weapons violations was indicted for lying to federal investigators about his fundraising work for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which is accused of sending millions of dollars to Hamas. According to the Republic story:

"The FBI is monitoring the family and community ties among Valley residents involved in the jetliner, shooting and charity probes, said John Lewis, who runs the FBI's Arizona office.

‘All of these things come on our scope,' said Lewis, the agency's former head of counterterrorism operations.

The FBI routinely watches communities and groups that show patterns of radicalism seen in terrorism cases in the U.S. and Europe; those include radical Islamic theology, anti-Western political rhetoric and fundraising tied to terrorist groups."

Omar Shahin, the imam from the US Airways incident whose son was charged with weapons violations, has questioned whether Muslims carried out the 9/11 attacks, raised money for HLF and wrote a book invoking Abdullah Azzam, who is considered an inspiration to Osama bin Laden.

All of this prompts American Islamic Forum for Democracy founder M. Zuhdi Jasser comment: ""You can't help wonder where this is going."