British police charge soldier with terrorism offence

(Reuters) - British police said on Friday that they had charged a 21-year-old serving soldier with a terrorism offence and an explosives-related charge, following an investigation.

London's Metropolitan Police said they had charged Daniel Abed Khalif, from Stafford in central England, with eliciting or attempting to elicit in August 2021 information that could used by a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Khalif was also charged on Friday with the offence of placing an article which other people might fear was a bomb, police said in a statement, adding that the offence took place on or before Jan. 2 this year.

Khalif is in police custody and will appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

(Reporting by David Milliken in London and Rishabh Jaiswal, Juby Babu in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)