Britain charges 2 Algerians with membership in al-Qaida

Associated Press WriterLONDON (AP) -- Two Algerian men were charged with membership in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and police said Thursday that eight others were arrested under Britain's Terrorism Act in raids north of London.

The two Algerians, ages 30 and 37, face a variety of terrorism-related charges. Police, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not release their names or say when they had been arrested.

The 37-year-old is charged with "directing" al-Qaida, inciting an act of terrorism overseas and four counts related to the financing of terrorism.

The 30-year-old is charged with membership in al-Qaida, possessing material for the purposes of terrorism, racially inflammatory material and charges related to financing terrorism.

Police arrested eight men, whose ages range from 23 to 40, under the national Terrorism Act in raids in Leicester, 100 miles north of London, on Thursday.

"Several people have been arrested in connection with an ongoing pan European anti-terrorist investigation," according to an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Officers were searching the raided premises, along with several other addresses.

In late September, police in Leicester arrested Kamel Daoudi and extradited him to France where he was wanted in connection with a foiled terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

Djamel Beghal, a French-Algerian whom French investigators say revealed the embassy bombing plot, told a French judge that al-Qaida fighters were recruited through British mosques in London and Leicester.

In a separate incident Thursday, a man was charged with carrying weapons to London's Heathrow Airport.

Scotland Yard said Ian Hugh Gordon Ashley, a 54-year-old racing instructor, was charged under the Aviation and Security Act.

He is alleged to have been carrying a three-inch knife, pliers and a screwdriver when he was stopped at the airport on Wednesday. He was to appear at a London court on Feb. 1.