Britain arrests more Islamist suspects after top preacher held

LONDON - British police on Friday said they had arrested two more suspects in an investigation into "Islamist-related terrorism", a day after nine were detained including a top radical preacher.

The two men "were arrested in the early hours of this morning in a vehicle on the M6 motorway," which runs between central and northern England, police said in a statement.

One of them, aged 33, was arrested for "encouraging terrorism" and "being a member of a proscribed organisation", while the other, 42, was held for "assisting an offender".

"These arrests and searches are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism and are not in response to any immediate public safety risk," police said.

The nine arrested on Thursday are also suspected of links to a banned organisation, reportedly the extremist Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun.

It was co-founded by one of the detained, Anjem Choudary, who is regularly quoted in British tabloids for his controversial views on Islam and the Middle East.

Choudary, a 47-year-old former lawyer, is also known for staging an anti-West march through the town of Wootton Bassett at a time when it was known for honouring British soldiers killed in Afghanistan as the coffins returned home.

Al-Muhajiroun has had a string of different incarnations over the years and aims to overthrow the British government and establish a global Islamic caliphate, according to the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence.