Switzerland has deported a prominent Algerian Islamist, Ahmed Zaoui, who had applied for political asylum after entering the country illegally last year.

He and his family were put on a plane to an undisclosed country which had agreed to accept them -- not Algeria.

A Swiss spokesman said Mr Zaoui was seen as a security risk because of his influence in radical Islamic circles.

He was questioned in Switzerland by a French magistrate earlier this year in connection with alleged terrorist activity in France.

Mr Zaoui, who was based in Brussels until he slipped into Switzerland, has admitted being a member of the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front, but denied belonging to the armed militant group, the GIA.