The two men “were arrested in the early hours of this morning in a vehicle on the M6 motorway,” which runs between central and northern England, police said in a statement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron urged parliament on Friday to vote to approve “years” of air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Iraq, saying the group was guilty of “staggering” brutality and posed a direct threat to Britain, Reuters reported.

Cameron recalled parliament from recess for a special session after securing cross-party support for strikes against IS and his government is expected to comfortably win the vote, which is expected at around 1600 GMT.

“Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes,” Cameron told parliament, saying he thought action would need to last “years” to be effective.

“This is not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member, with a declared and proven intention to attack our country and our people.”

Although parliament is expected to vote in favor of air strikes, some lawmakers in Cameron’s Conservative party think striking ISIS in Iraq is insufficient and want him to extend action to tackle ISIS militants in Syria too, something he has said he isn’t ready to do for now.

Conversely, some lawmakers from the left-leaning opposition Labor party are uncomfortable about the prospect of any kind of military action, but Ed Miliband, the party’s leader, says he backs Cameron on strikes against ISIS in Iraq.

UK police arrests Islamists

In a related story, British police on Friday said they had arrested two more suspects in an investigation into “Islamist-related terrorism,” a day after nine were detained including a top radical preacher.

The two men “were arrested in the early hours of this morning in a vehicle on the M6 motorway,” which runs between central and northern England, police said in a statement.

One of them, aged 33, was arrested for “encouraging terrorism” and “being a member of a proscribed organization,” while the other, 42, was held for “assisting an offender.”

“These arrests and searches are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism and are not in response to any immediate public safety risk,” police said.

The nine arrested on Thursday are also suspected of links to a banned organization, reportedly the extremist Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun.

It was co-founded by one of the detained, Anjem Choudary, who is regularly quoted in British tabloids for his controversial views on Islam and the Middle East.

Choudary, a 47-year-old former lawyer, is also known for staging an anti-West march through the town of Wootton Bassett at a time when it was known for honouring British soldiers killed in Afghanistan as the coffins returned home.

Al-Muhajiroun has had a string of different incarnations over the years and aims to overthrow the British government and establish a global Islamic caliphate, according to the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence.

 
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