Nigeria, Sept. 11 -- The Nigerian government on Thursday arraigned two top leaders of Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group, on terrorism-related charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

One of the suspected terrorists immediately pleaded guilty to illegal mining charge, and was pronounced guilty by the court.

The defendants - Mahmud Muhammed Usman (a.k.a. Abu Bara'a/Abbas Mukhtar) and Abubakar Abba (a.k.a. Isah Adam/Mahmud Al-Nigeri) - were arraigned before judge Emeka Nwite on 32 counts of terrorism.

The proceedings, which lasted over four hours, were held amid tight security around the court.

One of the defendants, Mr Usman, pleaded guilty to Count 10, which accused him of mining precious minerals without lawful authori...