Three charged in the UK over PM death threats

London: Three men were due in court on Friday charged with terrorism offences over threats posted on an Islamist website to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Lancashire police said on Thursday they had charged Ishaq Kanmi, 22, with soliciting murder and belonging to a banned group calling itself Al Qaida.

Abbas Iqbal, 23, and 21-year-old Ilyas Iqbal were both charged with possessing an article for the purpose of committing an act of terrorism. Kanmi and Abbas Iqbal were also charged with the dissemination of terrorist publications.

Two others remained in custody, police said.

The three men who were charged are all from Blackburn in northern England. Two were arrested at Manchester airport earlier this month while the other was arrested the same day in nearby Accrington.

They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in London.

They were held after an investigation into threats posted on a militant website in January by a group calling itself Al Qaida in Britain.

Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair were suggested as targets of suicide attacks unless Britain withdrew its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and released Muslims imprisoned in Britain.

Police have been on high alert after co-ordinated suicide attacks on London's transport system in July 2005 killed 52 people.

Several other plots have been uncovered or have failed, including attempted car bombings in Glasgow and London last year.