Seven arrested in anti-terror raids

THE massive investigation into the London terror attacks showed no sign of slowing last night as a further seven suspects were taken into custody.

The six men and one woman were arrested during raids in Brighton, East Sussex, in connection with the attempted bombings in the capital on July 21.

It brings the running total of those being held to 19 - among them all the men named as suspected would-be suicide bombers, including one tracked to Rome.

Police have played down speculation they are still hunting a third suicide bomb cell.

However, they are searching for the key logistical players behind the attack of July 7 which claimed 56 lives and the failed attack two weeks later.

And they have just 14 days in which to gather evidence before either charging or freeing suspects held under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: “We are searching for other people in connection with this ongoing inquiry. We are not talking about cells. We have never spoken about a third cell. There were quite a few other people involved in the incidents of the 7th and the 21st. It’s extremely likely there will be other people involved in harbouring, financing and making the devices.”

Yesterday’s arrests were made at one of two residential addresses in Brighton.

The suspects are being questioned at a Sussex police station.

Over the past week there have been a series of raids at addresses in London, Birmingham and now Brighton as part of the fast-paced investigation.

Scotland Yard has been given extra time to question Yasin Hassan Omar, who was captured after being shot with a Taser stun gun in a raid on a house in the Hay Mills area of Birmingham on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old is suspected of the attempted bombing of a Victoria Line train near Warren Street.

Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, alleged to be the Hackney bus bomber, and Ramzi Mohammed, who is being linked with the attempted Oval Tube attack, are being questioned after being seized on Friday.

They surrendered to armed police after a raid at a flat on the Peabody Estate in North Kensington, west London.

Police also arrested Wahbi Mohammed, 23, brother of Ramzi Mohammed, at a raid in Tavistock Crescent, less than a mile from the Peabody Estate, on Friday.

Hussain Osman, accused of being the Shepherd’s Bush bomber, is fighting extradition to Britain after being captured at his brother’s home in Rome.

A legal expert familiar with the investigation said Osman had admitted to a role in the attack but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike.

Osman told interrogators he was not carrying enough explosives even to “harm people nearby”, the expert said.

Two women held on Friday at Liverpool Street station in London under the Terrorism Act have been released without charge.

Meanwhile, consular officials were seeking access to a British al-Qaida suspect reportedly linked to the London bombings who is being held in Zambia.

Yesterday, a man was arrested at Stockport train station in Greater Manchester under the Terrorism Act, police said.

The station was closed at around 5pm, when a man was seen acting suspiciously.

However police do not believe he was in anyway connected to the bomb attacks on London.