British police charge five under terrorism laws

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) Five men are due to appear in court today charged under anti-terrorism laws after a series of police raids in the central English city of Birmingham last week, British police said.

Detectives arrested nine men on January 31 in what a defence source said was an investigation into a suspected plot to kidnap and possibly kill a British Muslim soldier.

Three men have been released, while another man is still being held for questioning.

''Five men from Birmingham have been charged overnight with offences under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006,'' police said in a joint statement with the Crown Prosecution Service. No immediate details of the charges were available.

Police said they would hold a joint news conference with the prosecution service at 1430 hrs to give details of the charges against the men, aged 29, 30, 31, 36 and 43.

Birmingham is Britain's second largest city and one of its most ethnically diverse with a large Muslim population.

Britain has been on its second highest alert level since four British Muslims killed 52 people on London's transport system in July 2005 in Western Europe's first Islamist suicide bombings.

REUTERS PDM KP1052