NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal authorities on Friday arrested two men linked to a suspected al Qaeda-inspired bomb plot after one of them led the FBI on a high-speed chase during which he invoked the name of Allah in a 911 call, a law-enforcement source said.

Najibullah Zazi (C) is escorted by U.S. Marshals after a helicopter landing at a New York Police Department facility in Brooklyn, New York, September 25, 2009. REUTERS/New York Police Department

Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zarein Ahmedzay, 24, were arrested in New York City as part of the investigation into Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi, the FBI said. Zazi, 24, was arrested in September and accused of plotting a bomb attack in New York City on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

All three went to high school together in the New York City borough of Queens, and investigators allege they traveled to Pakistan together in 2008 where they attended an al Qaeda training camp, said one law-enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ahmedzay, appearing in Brooklyn federal court on Friday, pleaded not guilty to a charge of making false statements to the FBI -- specifically, that he lied about the places he had visited in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and about whether an unnamed third party attended al Qaeda camps.

His defense lawyer, Michael Marinaccio, disputed the allegation that Ahmedzay received al Qaeda training, telling reporters, “It seems to me that if they had that kind of information then you would see it in the (charges).”

Medunjanin was due to appear before a judge later though it was not certain it would be on Friday.

Medunjanin, of Bosnian origin, and Ahmedzay, of Afghani origin, had been under surveillance since Zazi’s arrest. Authorities searched Medunjanin’s home on Thursday when they took his U.S. passport, after which he got in his car and began racing through the streets of New York at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour (145 km per hour), the source said.

“He called 911 (the emergency response line) and invoked the name of Allah. He said, ‘We love death more than you love life!’ and rammed the car in front of him,” the law enforcement official said.

He was detained by New York police and handed over to federal authorities, providing them with information that led to the arrest of Ahmedzay, the source said.

Ahmedzay, a taxi driver, was arrested in Manhattan while on duty, his lawyer said.

ZAZI CASE RAISES ALARM

Security experts had considered the Zazi case among the most serious within U.S. borders since the attacks of September 11, 2001, though in recent weeks the case was overshadowed by the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

Zazi, a former coffee vendor from New York who had moved to Colorado, was indicted by a federal grand jury in September on a charge of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He pleaded not guilty and his defense attorney has cautioned against what he called a rush to judgment against him.

The Zazi case alarmed security experts because he was not a foreign militant but rather, according to prosecutors, a man who grew up largely in the United States, became radical, traveled for al Qaeda training, and then took steps toward carrying out a U.S. attack.

Prosecutors say Zazi took a bomb-making course at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, had bomb-making notes on his laptop, and acquired bomb-making materials similar to those used in the 2005 attacks in London’s transit system.

Zazi’s father and a New York imam have also been arrested in the case, accused of lying to federal authorities.