PARIS, April 7: Two Frenchmen suspected of being extremists and deported by Pakistan were charged with conspiring to commit terrorist acts, a judicial source said.

The two were deported earlier this week from Pakistan where they had been held for 10 months on suspicion of being extremists. A third Frenchman who was deported with them remains in police custody.

The three men — aged 30, 29 and 27 — are alleged to have entered Pakistan illegally from Iran last year, with the aim of fighting Nato troops in Afghanistan. They were arrested on May 28, according to investigators in Pakistan.

One of the suspected extremists was deported on Tuesday, the second on Wednesday and the third on Thursday.

They were detained along with Naamen Meziche, another Frenchman of North African extraction previously known to Western security services as a presumed member of Al Qaeda.

Investigators suspect that Meziche could have been escorting the trio to a remote militant strong-hold on the Afghan border.—AFP