The group - including six children - has now arrived back in Denver, Colorado.

Back home: Cult members on the tarmac at Denver airport

The cult members were arrested last Sunday at rented apartments in the suburbs of Jerusalem.

Police said the Concerned Christians were suspected of planning unspecified "extreme acts of violence" in an attempt to hasten the second coming of Jesus, which they believe will take place at the end of the millennium.

A lawyer who represented three of the group said they were were law-abiding religious pilgrims.

"They did not deny the fact that they are waiting here in Israel to wait for the return of Jesus, but they say they will not be involved in any illegal activity," said lawyer Eran Avital.

A police spokesman said three Israeli policemen were escorting them back to the United States.

"Operation Walk on Water"

Al Aqsa mosque - a target for millennialists

Israel has set up a special police task force to deal with threats by Christian cults drawn to Jerusalem in the belief that Jesus will return at the end of the millennium.

Codenamed "Operation Walk on Water", the investigation has the help of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Some fundamentalist Christians believe one of Islam's holiest shrines in Jerusalem - Al-Aqsa mosque - must first be destroyed and an ancient Jewish temple restored in its place if Jesus is to return to Earth.