A man has been charged with plotting to carry out a terror attack armed with a knife, police said.

Ummariyat Mirza was arrested by counter-terror police on Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, last week.

The 21-year-old, from Birmingham, is accused of buying a blade and conducting research to carry out a deadly assault.

West Midlands Police said he is also charged with possessing the bomb-making guide the Anarchist Cookbook and an extremist document called the Mujahideen Poisons handbook.

Ummariyat Mirza, 21, from Birmingham, has been charged with plotting a terror attack with a knife after being arrested in Alum Rock Road (pictured) last week

Officers also charged Zainub Mirza, 23, from Bordesley Green, believed to be his sister, with sending Islamic State propaganda videos and executions to others.

It is alleged she sent the extremist material, including a picture of a man holding two severed heads, to encourage terror attacks.

The arrests, made on March 29, were said not to be linked to the Westminster attack last month, in which four people died after a terrorist drove his car into crowds and fatally knifed a police officer.

Five homes and one business address were searched by counter-terrorism officers as part of the investigation, police said.

The pair will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday.