Edited for new material:
Four bombers died in the London terror attacks, it was reported today. Police refused to confirmed the report on Sky News but sources said that the identification of at least one of the dead bombers led detectives to addresses in Leeds where raids were carried out today. It now appears the blasts which killed at least 52 people were the work of suicide bombers.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair described today's operation in the Leeds area as "significant". It is thought that a number of people were detained during the operation. Armed officers and Army bomb disposal experts took part in the raids on six properties in the Leeds area, which began around 6.30am today. Sir Ian said the operation was intelligence-based and was "directly connected" to last week's blasts, which killed at least 52 people. Detectives were expected to release more details about the operation later today.
Sources claimed that police had been led to the Yorkshire addresses after identifying the body of at least one bomber thought to have been responsible for the bus blast in Tavistock Square. Scotland Yard refused to confirm the claims. However, reports have previously quoted an eye-witness on the bus who said he saw an "agitated" olive-skinned man rummaging in a rucksack.
And at the weekend police refused to comment on suggestions that one of the suspected bombers had been rushed to hospital with horrific injuries.
Local residents said one of the people living at 51 Colwyn Road was 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer. Some people said Mr Tanweer had not been seen for a number of days. But his friend, Mohammed Answar, 19, said there was no way he could have been involved in the London atrocities. | All together now; "No, certainly not!" |
"It's impossible. It's not in his nature to do something like this," he said. "He's is the type of guy who would condemn things like that. "My heart is with the guy wherever he is."
| Likely your heart's in boomer heaven, then, cavorting with a 72-year-old virgin... |
Mr Answar said his friend had lived in the Beeston area all his life and had recently completed a sports science degree, but he would not say where. He said they played cricket together only last week. Mr Answar said: "A lot of people know him. We're all brothers. We all look after each other as brothers."
| Yes, we'll remenber that. |
Another friend Azzy Mohammed, 21, said of Mr Tanweer: "He's the kind of person who gets along with anyone. "His sense of humour is very good. He's a sweet lad." Mr Mohammed said his friend was a good Muslim with no connection to any form of radical or extreme group.
| Uh huh, a good muslim, spends a lot of time in the local mosque, I'll wager. |
Police have been examining the theory that those responsible for Thursday's attacks could have been "away day" bombers, who arrived in the capital to plant the devices and then fled. It has also been suggested that the bombers could have met at King's Cross station as all three Tube trains which were hit had passed through there on the morning of the blasts. The bus which was ripped apart by an explosion 57 minutes after the Tube bombs detonated had also come from that direction. Trains from Leeds to London arrive at King's Cross station. Police have so far refused to discuss reports that they have made a number of arrests.
However, a 21-year-old local man, speaking at the scene near Colwyn Road, claimed a group of his friends who are all young British-born Pakistani men in their early twenties had been arrested.
| The usual suspects, as well as the most likely ... |
| I'da guessed Algerian or Moroccan, if they were imported, Paks if raised domestically... |
| Who's the Saudi controller? |
The man, who did not wish to give his name, said: "They're all normal lads, very, very top lads they are. Police are just doing this for no reason. They don't know what they are doing at the end of the day. This is a load of nonsense."
| "Yeah. You know what cops are like. What do they know? Buncha infidels!" |
The operation, the first linked directly to the bombings, was announced shortly after 9am by Scotland Yard.
| Sunday's festivities seem to have been a hoax or a false alarm... |
Sir Ian said: "There have been a series of searches carried out in Yorkshire. "Those searches are still going on. There's very little else I can say at the moment, but this activity is directly connected to the outrages on Thursday." Hours after the Leeds raids, police evacuated Luton railway station and car park as they recovered a vehicle they believe may be linked to the terrorist attacks in London last week. A 100 yard cordon was placed around the station in a major operation by Bedfordshire Police in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police. The station was closed at 2.45pm on the grounds of public safety so that the car could be recovered. A police spokesman said: "Police believe the vehicle may be connected to the terrorist attacks in London." |