Porn ring: eight children rescued

Two British men have been arrested and eight British children have been rescued after a world-wide pedophile ring was broken with the help of Australian detectives.

Australian police say children as young as two were filmed and photographed being sexually abused to fulfil orders from an online pornography network.

Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) said the British victims were traced to addresses in their home country.

Paul Griffiths, head of the Ceop victim identification team, said the children were subjected to horrendous abuse.

"These images are crime scene photos where children are being subjected to sexual abuse," he told the BBC.

More than 40 children have been identified as victims of the pedophile ring, which operated in Australia, the United States, England, Canada and Germany.

A total of 22 people have been arrested worldwide, including 12 from the US and two Australians - one from Victoria and another from Queensland, who is believed to be one of the ringleaders.

A police operation, code-named Achilles, began investigations in January 2006 after Queensland police received intelligence from the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand.