Gordon Brown terror threat: Three arrested

Two men were arrested at Manchester airport last week as they prepared to leave the country and a third, the brother of one of the other men, was detained in Accrington, Lancashire where he worked as a security guard.

Counter-terrorism sources said the arrests related to a statement which appeared on an Arabic language website called al-ekhlaas.net, which often carries messages from senior members of al-Qaeda.

The message, written in English, appeared only briefly on January 24, and claimed to be from Shaykh Umar Rabie al-Khalaila, "The leader of al-Qaeda in Britain."

In it, he demanded the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and the release of prisoners from Belmarsh high security jail in south east London including the radical clerics Abu Hamza al-Masri and Abu Qatada.