(CBS/AP) Police on Wednesday released two of the nine men arrested last week on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist kidnapping plot.

West Midlands Police on Tuesday had gained court permission to extend the interrogation of the suspects who were arrested in raids in Birmingham.

News reports claimed the men were suspected to planning to kidnap, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier.

After the two men were released, their lawyer Garth Pierce said they left "without any better understanding of why they were there than when they first arrived seven days ago."

"Not a word was ever mentioned to either of them about a plot to kidnap or the gristly suggestion of a beheading or even of a soldier at all. Both have been met with a consistent refusal over seven days for any explanation for their arrest," Pierce said.

"They are convinced that others in the police station must be as innocent as they and urge that they also be swiftly released."

Detectives were granted a further 72 hours on Tuesday to question the remaining seven suspects.

The nine suspects, believed to be British men of Pakistani descent, were arrested in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday on homes and businesses in several Birmingham neighborhoods, which were mostly Pakistani. On Thursday, police continued to search the buildings.

The suspects are believed to have drawn up a list of Muslim soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, London's Times newspaper reported, citing unidentified security officials. The suspects had narrowed their targets to a shortlist of three men, the newspaper said.

Police would not confirm reports from the British Broadcasting Corp. and other media that the intended victim was a British army soldier to be killed in an "Iraqi-style" execution and broadcast on the Internet.

Many British Muslims believe the arrests were an over-reaction.

"Every other day there is a raid," one Muslim man told CBS News.

For this reason the operation was a risky one, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Police have made high-profile arrests of Muslims suspected of ambitious terror plots before, only to have to let suspects go when the intelligence proved wrong. If they can't make this one stick, they risk further alienating an already suspicious community.

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