4 members of U.K. military arrested on suspected terrorist ties

The U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said Tuesday that four members of its military have been arrested under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of belonging to National Action, a banned neo-Nazi group, and planning terrorist acts, per Reuters.

The four arrests were made by counter-terrorism officers in the English cities of Birmingham, Ipswich, and Northampton, and in Powys, Wales. "The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led; there was no threat to the public's safety," West Midlands Police said.

Why it matters: National Action became the first far-right group to be outlawed in Britain last year after the group praised the murder of Jo Cox, a member of parliament who was killed by a man motivated by Nazism and white supremacist ideology. Meanwhile, the U.K.'s threat level is currently ranked as "severe," the second-highest level, meaning an attack is highly probable.