British bombing suspects to be held for another week

British police were granted a final seven days yesterday to question five British Muslim men suspected of being involved in a plot to blow up US-bound airliners using liquid explosives.

The five suspects can now be held until September 6 at the latest before they must be charged or released. The police will only publicly name them if they are charged.

Three other British Muslim men were remanded in custody yesterday after being charged over the plot, which US officials believe could have been more deadly than the September 11, 2001, attacks had it come to fruition.

Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, 25, Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 35, and Nabeel Hussain, 22, were formally charged at a central London court with conspiracy to murder and planning acts of terrorism by plotting to blow up planes.

The men were among 25 arrested by British anti-terrorism detectives who said on August 10 they had foiled a plan to use homemade liquid explosives to bring down several airliners over the Atlantic on the way from Britain to the US.

They were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey criminal court on September 18. An application for bail by lawyers for Hussain was rejected.

Last week eight other men were remanded over the most serious charges of conspiracy to murder and plotting to smuggle and detonate bombs on board airliners.

They will appear at the Old Bailey on September 4.

Four others, including a 17-year-old youth and a young mother with an 8-month-old baby, are accused of lesser offences.

Five more, including the baby who was briefly taken into custody with his mother, have been released without charge.

Under British law, police can hold a terrorism suspect for a maximum of 28 days before they must charge or release them.

The three men appeared at yesterday's court hearing wearing white sweatshirts and grey tracksuit trousers. They spoke only to state their names and addresses.

All of those arrested in connection with the suspected plot are British Muslims and most are of Pakistani origin.

The alleged plot came to light 13 months after four British Islamist suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 other people at rush hour on public transport in London.

Police said last week they had seized "martyrdom videos", an apparent reference to testaments by would-be suicide bombers, as part of a huge probe into the suspected plane plot that included scores of searches of houses, cars and open spaces.

Pakistani authorities have also arrested several people, including two Britons, in connection with the investigation.