Police chiefs investigating the London bomb blasts were under growing pressure on Sunday over the shooting dead of an innocent man as they faced a backlash from the Muslim community and some politicians.

The controversy surrounding the shooting on Friday of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician living in London, is a serious setback for the capital's police, who are trying to build trust with British Muslims to gain vital intelligence on extremist elements. On Sunday night police made a third arrest in connection with the July 21 attempted suicide bombings.