LONDON, Jan 23: British police on Tuesday arrested five men under anti-terror laws, in dawn raids reportedly linked to the escape of a terror suspect and the distribution of Islamist propaganda.

Two men, aged 25 and 29, were detained in the town of Halifax, northern England, “on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism,” London's Metropolitan Police said.

It is thought that the operation involved alleged extremist propaganda used to spread radical Islamist ideology.

In a separate operation, a further three suspects, two aged 24 and one 32-year-old, were arrested by officers who raided four addresses in the city of Manchester, northwest England.

They were reportedly detained by police investigating the disappearance last month of a terrorism suspect who had been on a control order, a loose form of house arrest.

A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman confirmed that the operation was linked to “an allegation of aiding and abetting an offender and is linked to other intelligence relating to other alleged terrorism-related activities.” Government sources said that both operations, which were not linked, were related to the “broader picture of Islamist extremism”, rather than specific plots to attack British targets.

Many of the houses which were raided were in areas with significant British Muslim populations. The BBC initially reported that the two men arrested in Halifax were of Pakistani descent, but this could not be confirmed.

The arrests came as the country remains on high alert against potential terror attacks.—AFP