Two Egyptians appeared in court yesterday in connection with the bombing last year of two American embassies in Africa.

Mr Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous, 42, and Mr Adel Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Bary, 39, were both arrested in London on Sunday on United States extradition warrants.

Bow Street Magistrates' Court was told that the two men conspired with the international Islamic terrorist, Osama bin Laden, and others to murder American citizens.

Miss Arvinder Sambi, appearing for the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the US government, said the two men's fingerprints were found on faxes claiming responsibility for the bombings of the US missions in Kenya and Tanzania on August 8 last year. More than 220 people died in the atrocities and thousands more were injured.

Miss Sambi said one fax arrived at the Grapevine fax shop in London at 4.53am. Another fax was then sent out after the bombings at 7.30am UK time from a post office in Formosa Street, west London.

Copies of both faxes were subsequently found at the offices of The Advice and Reform Council, allegedly a front for the terrorist organisation Al Qade - Arabic for The Leadership - in Beethoven Street, in west Kilburn, London.

Miss Sambi said: ''Mr Eidarous's fingerprints were found on the claims of responsibility and were found prior to the bombings. Mr Bary's fingerprints were on the fax that was sent.''

Mr Eidarous, of Waldo Road, in Harlesden, north-west London, and Mr Bary, of Randolph Avenue, in Maida Vale, west London, were both remanded in custody for a week.

Miss Sambi told the court that the two men were involved with Al Quadea, the international council of bin Laden's well-financed terror group, which was bent on Jihad - holy war - against the US and the West, partly in revenge for the Gulf War.

''The council would have discussed and approved any major operations, including terrorist attacks,'' she said. ''Al Quadea specifically targeted the US for a number of reasons. They regarded the US as the infidel.''

Under the Anglo-American Extradition Treaty of 1976, the US authorities have 60 days from the time of arrest to apply for the transfer of the two men to American jurisdiction.

Miss Sambi asked for the men to be remanded in custody for 28 days. However, chief magistrate Graham Parkinson would allow only a week, saying that he wanted more information about the evidence against them from the US government.

Mr Parkinson said that he was concerned by claims from Mr Eidarous's lawyer, Ms Gareth Peirce, that her client - released by British immigration officers on Friday after a 10-month detention - was the subject of a ''Kafkaesque'' abuse of power by the US.

Mr Bary's lawyer, Mr Keith Hugo, said that the Crown Prosecution Service's objection to bail for his client was based on a ''cocktail of surmise and sensationalised hypothesis''.

The accused men both appeared unfazed by the seriousness of the allegations against them. Mr Bary, bearded and portly in a beige suit and open-necked shirt, smiled broadly when he entered the court. Mr Eidarous was similarly dressed and also bearded, but remained straight-faced throughout the hearing.

Mr Eidarous was described as a former army officer and Mr Bary as a lawyer who now helps fellow Egyptian dissidents.

Both men were forced to leave their homeland after allegedly being harassed by the authorities there.

According to their lawyers, Mr Eidarous lives in the UK with his wife and six young children.

Mr Bary also lives with his family in Britain. His wife is expecting their sixth child.