Two Britons charged with Syria terrorism offences

 Two British men were charged on Friday with travelling to Syria for the purposes of terrorism, police said, while another man was arrested on suspicion of attending a terror camp in the war-ravaged country.

Yusuf Sawar and Mohammed Ahmed, both 21 and from Birmingham in central England, will appear in court in London on Saturday “charged with planning and travelling to Syria for terrorism”, West Midlands Police said in a Twitter statement.

Officers said the case was not related to the arrest on Friday afternoon of another man from Birmingham after he flew into London's Gatwick airport from Istanbul.

The 21-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp in Syria, police said.

British police have over the past three years arrested a number of people who have travelled to Syria over concerns that they are fighting with jihadi groups.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday that “hundreds” of Britons were believed to have gone to fight in Syria and security forces were doing their best to monitor the situation.

On Thursday, two women aged 26 and 27 were arrested on suspicion of terror offences, including one who was about to catch a flight to Istanbul.

Police would not comment whether the arrests were linked to Syria.

In November British prosecutors dropped a case against a doctor accused of kidnapping a British photographer and his Dutch colleague in Syria.