House raided as hunt begins for bombing mastermind

ANTI-TERROR police raided a house last night in connection with the London bombings, Scotland Yard said.

Officers swooped on the property in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, just north of London, at 7pm and searched the premises.

The raid came after it emerged a fifth man may have played a key role in last Thursday's attacks.

Police have yet to identify the fifth man but he could have been the bomb-maker or the attack orchestrator.

They do not believe there was a fifth bomber.

The London Times newspaper today reported that the mastermind of the attacks was a Pakistani in his 30s who arrived through a British port last month but left a day before the bombings.

A police spokesman said: "Officers from the anti-terrorist branch, supported by officers from Thames Valley Police, executed a search warrant issued under the Terrorism Act at residential premises in Buckinghamshire."

The spokesman said a detailed forensic examination would be carried out.

No arrests have been made and no explosive substances are believed to have been recovered.

Four bombers blew themselves up but police are investigating whether another member of the terrorist cell is alive and on the run.

Sources said the bombers had not previously been arrested for terrorism offences.

Security services and police fear they were "foot soldiers" recruited by an al-Qaida lieutenant who may have fled the country before the attacks.

Explosives were found in an apparent "bomb factory" in Burley, Leeds, and it is also feared the mastermind could have recruited a second bomb team.

A senior security source said: "Where is the person who had the expertise to organise it all? There is the possibility that it could be al-Qaida someone who would have been sent to the country to do the preparation and would have left the day before the attack.

"Is the capability to mount an attack still somewhere else?"

As the hunt continued it was announced that Europe would fall silent for two minutes at noon today.

At an emergency meeting in Brussels the 25 EU interior ministers agreed moves to force mobile phone companies and internet service providers to store records of communications for longer periods.

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke denied that represented a move towards a 'Big Brother society'.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said there was "profound shock" that the bombers were British.