(Video: Ruptly)

The US Justice Department has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer.

The charge was announced Thursday after Assange was taken into custody in London in connection with a US extradition request, as well as for breaching UK bail conditions in 2012.

His lawyer has previously said that Assange planned to fight any US charges against him.

The indictment accuses Assange of assisting Manning, a former US intelligence analyst, in cracking a password that helped Manning infiltrate Pentagon computers.