Texas jury indicts US sect leader

Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list at the time of his arrest in 2006

Warren Jeffs, the jailed leader of a US polygamist sect, has been indicted on charges of child sexual assault in the state of Texas.

Five of his followers also face charges. Jeffs was convicted last year of being an accomplice to rape and is currently in prison in Arizona.

In April, US officials removed 416 children from the sect's ranch after receiving a report of sexual abuse.

A Texas court later overturned the decision to remove the children.

It said the state had overstepped its authority because of the lack of evidence about widespread sexual abuse.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he hopes to extradite Jeffs, who was convicted by a Utah court last November of conspiracy to rape after forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin.

The Texas Grand Jury now believes it has the evidence to press charges against Jeffs and four other unnamed men of sexually assaulting girls under the age of 17.

Another follower has been charged with three counts of failing to report allegations of child abuse.

Self-imposed fast

Jeffs is currently awaiting trial in Arizona on four counts of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor, stemming from the marriages of two girls.

Mr Abbott did not release the names of the five other men charged but said there "will be an aggressive attempt to apprehend them."

"The indictments issued today are part of an ongoing and continuing criminal investigation," Mr Abbott said.

Jeffs, 52, is the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway sect of Mormonism that supports polygamy.

The 10,000-strong sect, which dominates the towns of Colorado City in Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, split from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago.

Willie Jessop, a church member and spokesman, said members were shocked by the indictments.

"As soon as we know who they're looking for, we'll try to face it, we believe in our innocence," Mr Jessop told The Associated Press.

While in prison, Jeffs has been treated in an infirmary for a self-imposed fast and was moved to a hospital earlier this month after he was found convulsive and feverish in his cell.