Pakistan will provide legal assistance to students facing deportation from Britain after being arrested in anti-terror raids and released without charge, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

British police arrested 11 Pakistani men and a Briton as part of a probe into a major terrorist plot in northwest England this month.

Two remaining suspects were released without charge on Wednesday and the Pakistanis were now in the custody of British immigration officials, who have said they will be deported.

There is legal recourse "available to them and we will assist them, if need be," Pakistani foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit told a press briefing.

He said Islamabad was in close touch with British authorities on the issue, and that "things are moving and there is some progress."

"We hope to resolve this issue to our mutual satisfaction," he added.

defended The men were arrested on April 8 in pre-dawn swoops in Manchester and Liverpool. One 18-year-old student was released to the immigration authorities three days after the raids.

The British police statement said prosecutors had advised that there was "insufficient evidence gathered within the permitted timescales which would have allowed a warrant of further detention to be gathered or charges to be pursued."

The arrests, and the revelations that 10 of the men held were on student visas, have put Brown's government under pressure to strengthen its visa rules.