The State Department official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the unfolding case.
The official confirmed that US diplomats in Pakistan visited the detainees yesterday for a second time. Diplomatic security and FBI agents visited the men on Thursday. There was no immediate indication when the five might be returned to the United States.
A local police chief in Pakistan also said yesterday that the five will most likely be deported.
Pakistan authorities say the men used the social networking site Facebook and the Internet video site YouTube to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan. When they arrived in Pakistan, they allegedly took that effort to the street.
They were reported missing by their families in the Washington area a week ago after one of them left behind a farewell video showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
Pakistani police detained them this week - along with one of their fathers - in Sargodha, a town in the eastern province of Punjab.
The case has fanned fears that Americans and other Westerners - especially those of Pakistani descent - are traveling to Pakistan to join Al Qaeda and other militant groups. It comes on the heels of charges against a Chicago man of Pakistani origin who is accused of surveying targets for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
One of the five men being held is identified as an Egyptian American named Ramy Zamzam, a dental student at Howard University in Washington.
The others were identified as Waqar Hussain, Aman Yamar, Ahmad Abdul Mimi, and Umer Farooq and his father, Khalid Farooq. Pakistani officials have given various spellings of their names. The FBI note said two of the young men are of Ethiopian descent, and two are of Pakistani descent.
The note was provided by a congressional official on condition of anonymity because it was not a public document.
