British Raids Successful

[Annie]

I've been watching this all morning:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164050,00.html

Suspects Nabbed in London Bomber Search

Friday, July 29, 2005

LONDON — British police launched a major raid Friday in west London's Notting Hill area and arrested two suspects in the failed July 21 bombing attempts, Sky News reported.

With the two men now in custody and the arrest earlier this week of a third man suspected of trying to plant a bomb on London's transit system, authorities are searching for at least one more man they say tried to launch a second terror attack this month.

London's Metropolitan Police (search) would not confirm the Sky News report but said they raided two residences in west London and arrested two men at one address and one at another. Police were "securing the area and treating it as a crime scene."

Witnesses reported seeing heavily armed police, some wearing gas masks and others in forensic bodysuits. Some officers were seen wearing ski masks.

At the scene, officials in blue forensic suits were seen escorting another man in a white forensic suit out of an apartment complex. It's believed the man in the white suit is one of the suspects police were looking for.

The Notting Hill raids took place near Portobello Road in the chic neighborhood famous for its weekend street market. The area is near west London's Little Wormwood Scrubs park, where police on Saturday found a fifth bomb in a dark backpack.

Helicopters buzzed overhead in the area and police cordoned off a number of streets. The operation began around 11:30 a.m. local time in London.

There were reports of at least eight blasts in the area. Those blasts could have been the sound of stun grenades or gas canisters being used by police to gain entry into the building.

Steve Purl, a former Scotland Yard (search) team leader, said police likely used explosive entry to get into the building, but "for whatever reason, they can't go any further." The suspect may have barricaded himself inside the premises, Purl added.

Purl said any gas canisters that may have been thrown inside the building consist of high-decibel sounds aimed at disorienting people inside. He said using gas to gain entry in such situations is "somewhat extreme."

"It looks most professional … it's a remarkable set of developments for Britain," former CIA Director James Woolsey (search) told FOX News. "It looks like the Brits are turning on the heat and 'bravo.'"

Elsewhere Friday, armed police arrested two women at Liverpool Street station and evacuated the area, officers said today. The suspects were pinned to the ground at the central London station, witnesses said.

For more, go to these FOX News sister sites in England: Sky News | The Times of London | The Sun

Hunting for Suspects

Fearing another deadly attack on London's transit system, British police kept up their interrogation of a Somali man arrested for last week's failed bombings.

"This clearly is going to be the tip of the iceberg and in the next days, week, possibly months, we're going to see a lot of activity in the London area," Purl said.

Detectives hope 24-year-old Yasin Hassan Omar (search) — suspected of trying to blow up a subway train on July 21 with homemade explosives — will help them trace his three alleged accomplices and point to other possible terrorist cells in Britain. Omar was being questioned at a top-security police station in London.

Meanwhile, a police watchdog probed the killing of a Brazilian electrician, who was shot dead by officers who believed he was a suicide bomber.

Investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (search) appealed for witnesses to last Friday's incident at Stockwell subway station in south London where Jean Charles de Menezes (search), 27, was shot eight times — seven times to the head.

Menezes' funeral will be held Friday in the small town of Gonzaga, Brazil, where he was born. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (search), the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, will attend a requiem Mass for Menezes at Westminster Cathedral in central London Friday evening.

One of the subway stations targeted in the July 7 attacks, which killed 56 people including the four suicide bombers, reopened Friday. Several bouquets of flowers lay at the entrance to the Edgware Road station (search) in a tribute to the seven people killed in the July 7 attack. But passenger numbers were visibly down — a sign of nervousness among Londoners despite a huge police operation to catch the terrorists.

"I felt a bit nervous coming through the tunnel just then and this morning my mum gave me a look as though she was never going to see me again," said commuter Jasmine Chandhoke, 22. "Everyone was being incredibly vigilant on the train, checking each other's bags."

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair (search) has said it is a "race against time" to catch three men suspected of carrying out last Thursday's failed attacks.

"It does remain possible that those at large will strike again," Blair said Thursday, adding that other terrorist cells could be active and intent on bringing destruction to the capital.

Scotland Yard police headquarters declined to comment on the arrest in Zambia of a British man sought in connection with the July 7 bombings.

British investigators reportedly believe Haroon Rashid Aswat (search), 31, had been in telephone contact with some of the four suicide attackers who carried out the July 7 attacks.

The British Foreign Office said it was seeking access to a Briton reportedly detained in Zambia but would not identify him.

In Britain, police have 20 people in custody in connection with the July 21 attacks, and as part of what Commissioner Blair has described as "the largest investigation the Met [Metropolitan Police] has ever mounted."

Omar is a Somali citizen with British residency suspected of carrying out the failed attack at the Warren Street subway station. He was being questioned at a high security police station in London.

He was arrested in a dramatic raid in the central English city of Birmingham on Wednesday when anti-terrorist officers subdued him with a stun gun.

Commissioner Blair questioned the tactic of using a Taser gun, which delivers electric shocks, and said it could have set off a bomb.

"It was an incredible risk to use a Taser on a suicide bomber because the Taser itself could set it off and that is not the policy," Blair told the BBC's Newsnight program Thursday.

"I can't imagine how that was used. We use Tasers in London regularly but a Taser sends electric currents into the body of somebody. If there is a bomb on that body, then the bomb can go off."

FOX News' David Lee Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[deaddude]

Good for the Brits

 

[Annie]

Here's an update, seems they nabbed 3, plus two women at the Liverpool Street station:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050729...um9Q5gv;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

 

[Annie]

Looks like Rome nabbed at least one and when one reads about the connections the implications to a great net are obvious; as is the chilling supposition that the British public transport system may be infiltrated:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050729...mO9Q5gv;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

London, Rome Arrest Suspected 7-21 Bombers

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago

Raids in London and Rome on Friday rounded up the last of the four suspected attackers from the failed July 21 transit bombings in Britain, officials and media reports said.

Two of the suspects were picked up in west London following raids by heavily armed police, the reports said. London police did not confirm their identities.

Italian police in Rome arrested Osman Hussain, a naturalized British citizen from Somalia, as part of an ongoing investigation in the bombings, said Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu.

Police said they raided two residences Friday in west London and arrested two men at one address and one at another, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.

So far, about two dozen people have been arrested in connection with the attacks last week in which bombs in backpacks failed to detonate on three subway trains and a double-decker bus. Those attacks caused no injuries, unlike the July 7 attacks in London that killed 56 people, plus the four suicide bombers.

The police operation was carried out in at least two locations in Notting Hill about a quarter-mile apart.

Britain's Press Association said one of those arrested was believed to be Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, who allegedly tried to blow himself up on a double-decker bus in east London.

Ibrahim, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, came to Britain in 1990 from Eritrea.

The second suspect arrested in London is believed to have been responsible for the attempted bombing near Oval Tube station, Press Association said. He was pictured running from the Oval Street subway station wearing a "New York" sweatshirt.

Another of the four, Yasin Hassan Omar, was arrested Wednesday in Birmingham in central England.

Sky News broadcast video of two men in light blue body suits designed to preserve evidence leading away a man in a white bodysuit, shielding his face.

In addition, a witness told The Associated Press that a man wearing what appeared to be a bus driver's uniform was led away by police in handcuffs.

The witness, Osama Ahmed Ali, saw a Somali man whom he recognized as a bus driver.

"He was in a purple-and-yellow bus driver uniform," said Ali, 16. "I've been on a bus with him a couple of times."

Police also arrested two women at the Liverpool Street train station in central London and evacuated the area. The women were pinned to the ground in a raid.

One woman is believed to have been in a line for the Stansted Express, which goes to one of London's airports, when she was pushed to the ground by police.

The two women were arrested at 1:54 p.m., British Transport Police said. The police were searching a number of suspect packages in the station.

Earlier, police were involved in a standoff with at least one man in an apartment, pointing assault weapons and pistols at the home, a witness said. Police wearing black balaclavas and body armor surrounded the building.

Sky News broadcast images of police surrounding a red-brick apartment block as they shouted instructions to a suspect inside. Authorities screamed to a man named "Mohammed" to take off his clothes and exit the building, according to a witness identified by the station as Lisa Davis.

Police went door to door in the chic neighborhood, famous for its weekend street market, and told people to evacuate.

"I heard six loud bangs, which I found out from a policeman were stun grenades I believe, and then I heard two shots," witness Patrick Ball said. "The noise that I heard was an extremely loud bang."

The area is near west London's Little Wormwood Scrubs park, where police on Saturday found a dark backpack containing a fifth bomb connected to the July 21 attack.

Two small explosions in the area could be heard on video broadcast by Sky News. Helicopters buzzed overhead and police cordoned off a number of streets, and said one person had been arrested. A witness told CNN she saw several people being taken into custody.

The 24-year-old Omar, who was seized in a dramatic raid by anti-terrorist officers using stun guns, is a Somali citizen with British residency. Omar, suspected of attacking the Warren Street subway station, was being questioned at a top-security police station in London.

Meanwhile, a police watchdog group investigated the killing of a Brazilian electrician by police, who believed he was a suicide bomber.

Investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission appealed for witnesses who were at Stockwell subway station in south London on July 22, when Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot eight times — including seven times to the head.

Menezes' funeral is being held Friday in Gonzaga, Brazil, where he was born. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, will attend a Mass for Menezes at Westminster Cathedral in central London Friday evening.

One of the Tube stations closed after the July 7 attacks reopened Friday. Several bouquets of flowers lay at the entrance to the Edgware Road station in a tribute to the seven people killed there. But passenger numbers were visibly down — a sign of nervousness among Londoners despite a huge police operation to catch the terrorists.

"I felt a bit nervous coming through the tunnel just then and this morning my mum gave me a look as though she was never going to see me again," commuter Jasmine Chandhoke, 22, said. "Everyone was being incredibly vigilant on the train, checking each other's bags."

Scotland Yard police headquarters declined to comment on the arrest in Zambia of a British man sought in connection with the July 7 bombings.

British investigators reportedly believe Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, had been in telephone contact with some of the four suicide attackers who carried out the July 7 attacks. Aswat told investigators he once was a personal guard for Osama bin Laden, Zambian security officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

The British Foreign Office said it was seeking access to a Briton reportedly detained in Zambia but would not identify him.

 

[Annie]

It looks like all 4 are now in custody:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164050,00.html