Pakistani national, Abid Naseer, was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of preparing to bomb Manchester city centre in northern England.
An al-Qaeda suspect accused of planning to carry out bomb attacks on British and US targets came closer to facing trial in the United States on Friday when a London court approved his extradition.
Pakistani national, Abid Naseer, was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of preparing to bomb Manchester city centre in northern England.
US prosecutors accuse him of being part of an al Qaeda cell bent on staging attacks in the United States and Norway.
Naseer, 24, has never been charged in Britain, but US authorities have been seeking to extradite him.
A judge at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court approved their application and ruled the case must now be put before the home secretary (interior minister). Naseer's defence lawyer said he would appeal the decision, the Press Association reported.
The court had been told Naseer had been involved in a cell which had been planning to bomb Manchester, possibly its main shopping centre, between April 15 and 20, 2009.
US authorities allege he took orders from an al Qaeda "external operations leader" in Pakistan.
Naseer was one of 12 men, mostly students from Pakistan, whom police arrested in a major swoop, hours after Britain''s most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying details about the operation.
No explosives were found, but officers did discover emails exchanged between Naseer and a Pakistan account believed to be registered to an al Qaeda operative.
All the men were later released without charge although they were ordered to be deported.
However, Naseer won an appeal against his deportation to Pakistan because of fears he would be mistreated if he were sent home.
The Special Immigration Appeal Commission, which deals with such cases, said it believed he posed a security threat and ideally should be removed from Britain.
No details of the alleged targets in the US have been released.
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