Two men were appearing in court in Britain today charged with being members of the al-Qaeda network blamed for the September 11th attacks.
Leicestershire police, who arrested eight terror suspects in a series of raids today, said one of the men was charged with directing Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation.
The other man was charged with membership of al-Qaeda and both faced charges relating to the financing of terrorism.
The two men, who were due before Leicester magistrates this afternoon, were named by the court as Mr Baghdad Meziane (37) and Mr Brahim Benmerzouga (30).
The arrests are not directly linked to the September 11th attacks and were not made at the request of the FBI, police sources said.
The French radio station Europe 1 said the arrests were connected to investigations into planned attacks by Islamic militants in France.
PA