Three men held over London bombings

Counter-terrorist police were on Thursday night searching a flat and business address in east London and five private residences in Leeds after three men were arrested in connection with the July 7 2005 London bombings.

Two men, aged 23 and 30, were arrested just before 1pm at Manchester Airport where they were about to board a flight bound for Pakistan, investigators said. A third, aged 26, was arrested at a house in Leeds shortly after 4pm.

Scotland Yard said that the three men had been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

According to police investigators, the arrests were made as part of a continuing investigation into possible wider organisational support behind the bombings on London’s transport system, which left 56 people dead including the four terrorists responsible.

The arrests were the first to be made by the police in connection with the bombings since July 12 2005 when an unnamed person was detained for 10 days and released without charge.

Since the summer of 2005, the international police investigation led by Scotland Yard has established that three of the bombers were British nationals of Pakistani descent from West Yorkshire, and the fourth was Jamaican-born and had been living in Buckinghamshire.

Other leads have included unidentified items found after the bombings in a house in the Leeds area, and subsequent confirmation that two of the suspected ringleaders visited Pakistan before the attacks.

Police together with MI5, the Security Service, and MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, have stepped up their investigations into the al-Qaeda network they suspect has been recruiting UK-based operatives to carry out attacks, and helping with financing and training.

In September 2005, al-Jazeera, the television station, broadcast two video tapes allegedly made by al-Qaeda.

In one, Ayman al-Zawahiri, second in command of the terror group, claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings and threatened further attacks.

The second tape showed Mohammad Sidique Khan, a teaching assistant and the alleged leader of the London bombers, describing himself as a “soldier” in a war against the west.

Security officials said Thursday’s arrests followed a surveillance operation that had been going on for months.

According to investigators, the timing of the arrests was prompted by evidence that two of the suspects were about to leave the country for Pakistan. They added that the suspects would be putting themselves beyond the immediate reach of British justice.