Britain to ban two Islamist groups, says Blair

LONDON - The government will ban two radical Islamist groups from operating in the country as part of a raft of measures to be introduced following bomb attacks on London last month, Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday.

He said his government would outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organisation that says it is dedicated to creating an Islamic caliphate centred on the Middle East but insists it does not support violence.

Blair said the government would also ban a successor organisation to al Muhajiroun, a group that celebrated the September 11 2001, attacks on the United States but is meant to have disbanded.

"We will proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor organisation of al Muhajiroun," Blair told a news conference.

- REUTERS