British Police Release Radical Preacher Choudary

British police released radical preacher Anjem Choudary on bail on Friday, a day after he and eight others were arrested in an investigation into a banned extremist group.

Choudary said his arrest was "politically motivated", telling reporters that the government "waited until the day before a major vote on a war against Muslims for a high-profile series of arrests."

British lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly voted in favor to join U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic State (IS) militants, who have seized control of vast areas of the country and beheaded a series of foreign hostages.

"I've been released from police custody. Just in time for Cameron to declare war on Islam & Muslims in Iraq & Syria," Choudary wrote on Twitter.

Police said the arrests were part of an investigation into Al-Muhajiroun, a banned extremist group co-founded by Choudary, a Briton of Pakistani descent known for making inflammatory statements.

A 47-year-old former lawyer, Choudary was among nine men arrested on Thursday in a police swoop. He has been bailed until January.

Another two suspects were detained in their car on a motorway on Friday, one on suspicion of "encouraging terrorism" and the other 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.