Fourth man charged over Brown threats

LONDON (Reuters) - Police on Monday charged a fourth man with terrorism offences over threats to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown posted on a militant Islamist website.

Lancashire police said they had charged Muhammad Ali Mumtaz Ahmad, 24, from the northern town of Blackburn, with possessing an article for the purpose of committing an act of terrorism.

Police charged three other men from Blackburn last week in connection with the case, one with soliciting murder and belonging to al Qaeda. A fifth man remains in custody.

They were all held after an investigation into threats posted on an Islamic militant website in January by a group calling itself al Qaeda in Britain.

Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair were suggested as targets of suicide attacks unless Britain withdrew its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and released Muslims imprisoned in Britain.

Police have been on high alert after suicide attacks on London's transport system in July 2005 killed 52 people. Several plots have been uncovered or have failed, including attempted car bombings in London and Scotland last year.

(Editing by Robert Hart)