'All four' July 21 suspects held
All four failed London bomb suspects are in police custody following armed raids in the UK capital and Rome. Two London arrests are believed to be the men wanted for the 21 July Oval Tube and No 26 bus attacks. A third bomb suspect was already being held.
The fourth suspect, wanted for the attempted Shepherd's Bush Tube attack, has been arrested in Rome and named as Somali-born UK citizen Osman Hussain. Police arrested three people in raids in Notting Hill and north Kensington. Officers have also arrested two women at Liverpool Street station.
Footage broadcast on ITV News showed two men standing bare-chested on a balcony outside a flat on the Peabody Estate in north Kensington. A spokesman for the channel said: "Both men have a look of absolute surrender, they appear to be very shocked." The resident who captured the images is to be interviewed on ITV's news programme at 1030 BST. Police have been questioning Yasin Hassan Omar, wanted over the Warren Street Tube attempted attack, since he was arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday. BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett said he had been told that two of the men arrested in Friday's raids were believed to be wanted in connection with the failed bomb attacks.
They are Muktar Said Ibrahim - suspected of trying to bomb a bus in Shoreditch - and a man, who police have not yet named, wanted over the attempted Oval Tube bombing. Scotland Yard said they believed the arrests to be highly significant and described Friday as their "best day yet" since 21 July.
The properties raided on Friday are in a Peabody Trust estate in Dalgarno Gardens, North Kensington, where two arrests were made and the Tavistock Road area of Notting Hill, where police arrested one man. Eyewitnesses say they heard three shots and a large explosion as officers wearing gas masks entered one property. In Dalgarno Gardens officers were continually shouting at someone in a flat to come out. They were addressing him as "Muhammad".
The police asked him: "What is the problem? Why can't you come out?
"Take your clothes off. Exit the building. Do you understand?"
One resident told BBC News 24 she was inside a block of flats on the Peabody Estate at the time.
"They were shouting to him that he needed to come out with his arms up, in just his underwear.
"He was saying to them: 'how do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared'."
Police assured him he would not get shot as long as he followed instructions and they knew he was not a risk to the police or the public, she added. Officers told other residents on the 350-property estate to "get inside now".
Scotland Yard said they were not aware of firearms having been used.
In an separate raid in Notting Hill one eyewitness says a man dressed in a white forensic overall was taken away in an unmarked police car. Another has spoken of seeing three other people being taken away in a police van.
Chris Stokes told BBC News: "We got told to move out of the way by armed police and within about five minutes we heard three gunshots go off behind the block of flats at Tavistock Crescent."
Allan Sneddon, who lives nearby, told BBC News: "There was this almighty bang... big enough to shake the ground."
BBC Correspondent Jane Hughes said loud noises heard by witnesses may have been explosives used to blow in the door to a property and CS gas may have been used to subdue people.
In other developments:
All four failed London bomb suspects are in police custody following armed raids in the UK capital and Rome. Two London arrests are believed to be the men wanted for the 21 July Oval Tube and No 26 bus attacks. A third bomb suspect was already being held.
The fourth suspect, wanted for the attempted Shepherd's Bush Tube attack, has been arrested in Rome and named as Somali-born UK citizen Osman Hussain. Police arrested three people in raids in Notting Hill and north Kensington. Officers have also arrested two women at Liverpool Street station.
Footage broadcast on ITV News showed two men standing bare-chested on a balcony outside a flat on the Peabody Estate in north Kensington. A spokesman for the channel said: "Both men have a look of absolute surrender, they appear to be very shocked." The resident who captured the images is to be interviewed on ITV's news programme at 1030 BST. Police have been questioning Yasin Hassan Omar, wanted over the Warren Street Tube attempted attack, since he was arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday. BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett said he had been told that two of the men arrested in Friday's raids were believed to be wanted in connection with the failed bomb attacks.
They are Muktar Said Ibrahim - suspected of trying to bomb a bus in Shoreditch - and a man, who police have not yet named, wanted over the attempted Oval Tube bombing. Scotland Yard said they believed the arrests to be highly significant and described Friday as their "best day yet" since 21 July.
The properties raided on Friday are in a Peabody Trust estate in Dalgarno Gardens, North Kensington, where two arrests were made and the Tavistock Road area of Notting Hill, where police arrested one man. Eyewitnesses say they heard three shots and a large explosion as officers wearing gas masks entered one property. In Dalgarno Gardens officers were continually shouting at someone in a flat to come out. They were addressing him as "Muhammad".
The police asked him: "What is the problem? Why can't you come out?
"Take your clothes off. Exit the building. Do you understand?"
One resident told BBC News 24 she was inside a block of flats on the Peabody Estate at the time.
"They were shouting to him that he needed to come out with his arms up, in just his underwear.
"He was saying to them: 'how do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared'."
Police assured him he would not get shot as long as he followed instructions and they knew he was not a risk to the police or the public, she added. Officers told other residents on the 350-property estate to "get inside now".
Scotland Yard said they were not aware of firearms having been used.
In an separate raid in Notting Hill one eyewitness says a man dressed in a white forensic overall was taken away in an unmarked police car. Another has spoken of seeing three other people being taken away in a police van.
Chris Stokes told BBC News: "We got told to move out of the way by armed police and within about five minutes we heard three gunshots go off behind the block of flats at Tavistock Crescent."
Allan Sneddon, who lives nearby, told BBC News: "There was this almighty bang... big enough to shake the ground."
BBC Correspondent Jane Hughes said loud noises heard by witnesses may have been explosives used to blow in the door to a property and CS gas may have been used to subdue people.
In other developments:
- Edgware Road station has opened for the first time since the 7 July bomb attacks.
- The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) - the biggest trade union for Tube workers - is calling for more rail guards on trains and better emergency training and equipment, including breathing apparatus for rail staff.
- Nine men were arrested by police in Tooting, south London, on Thursday, bringing the total number of people held under anti-terrorist laws over the London attacks to 20.
- A major police operation was put into operation on the UK's transport system, with officers on a precautionary high alert to reassure the public and deter would-be attackers.
- The funeral of Jean Charles de Menezes is to be held in his home town of Gonzaga on Friday.
