Man charged with attending UK terrorism camp

LONDON - British police have charged two men held in a major swoop last week, one of whom was accused of undergoing terrorism training at a camp in southern England.

Detectives said Yassin Mutegombwa, 22, had been charged with three counts of receiving weapons training for terrorism at woodland near a camp site and at a farm during April and June.

British police said in February they suspected there were terrorism training camps in the country but this is the first time they had provided details.

Police said Mutegombwa had undergone training in woodland at the Matley Wood Caravan and Camping site in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, on England's south coast, and near a farm in Berkshire, west of London.

The charge added that "he knew or believed that the instruction or training was being provided there wholly or partly for purposes connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism".

The head of the British anti-terrorist branch said last month police were watching thousands of British Muslims they suspected of being involved in terrorism.

Security services believe such outdoor activities are used by militants for "team-building" purposes.

Two of the four Britons who carried out suicide bomb attacks on London's transport network on July 7 last year attended a white-water rafting holiday shortly before the attacks.

Matley Wood is a "small secluded site within natural woodland", according to its website while Berkshire's Pondwood Farm hosts facilities for anglers.

Mutegombwa, from the Upper Norwood area of south London, was one of 14 men arrested when officers carried out raids in the capital last week to target those suspected of training or recruiting militants.

The operation also saw detectives search a remote independent school for Muslim boys in East Sussex in southern England although no arrests were made.

A police source told Reuters it was thought the camps were used for "bonding" purposes as much as military training.

"We went into the operation with that at the forefront of our minds rather than thinking they were an attack cell," the source said.

Mutegombwa's brother Hassan, 20, was also charged on Monday with procuring funds for terrorism while 10 others are still in custody.

Both charged men, who are not thought to be British-born, will appear at London's Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The raid came just three weeks after British police said they had thwarted a suspected plot to bring down US-bound airliners over the Atlantic.

However, police said the arrests were not linked to that suspected plot.

- REUTERS