Image copyright PA

A 14-year-old boy from Blackburn has been charged by UK prosecutors with two counts of inciting terrorism in Australia.

The boy is accused of inciting another person to carry out an attack at an Anzac Day event with the aim of killing or seriously injuring people.

He is also accused of inciting another person to behead someone in Australia.

Anzac Day is commemorated on 25 April in memory of Australian and New Zealand soldiers who have died in war.

The boy, who has not been named for legal reasons, is believed to be the youngest person to be charged with terrorism offences in the UK to date, according to BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford.

He was charged after officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit and Lancashire Constabulary executed a search of an address in Blackburn on 2 April.

Officers had examined a number of electronic devices, and had uncovered communication between a teenager in Blackburn and a man in Australia, said a statement from Greater Manchester Police.

Information was subsequently passed to Australian authorities.

The boy will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Anzac Day was established to mark the anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli campaign in World War One and this year marks 100 years since that day.