Four bomb suspects now in custody
Four suspected would-be suicide bombers have been rounded up by police hunting those responsible for the failed July 21 attacks in London.
The fourth man was held in Rome today, an Italian government minister confirmed. He was described as a Somali man called Osman Hussain who is a naturalised British citizen, Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said.
The Italian police operation is continuing.
Earlier, two men detectives strongly believe to be would-be suicide bombers were arrested in London.
One of them was believed to be Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, who allegedly tried to blow himself up on a number 26 bus in Hackney, east London.
The other is believed to have been responsible for an attempted bombing near Oval Tube station on the same day.
A third man was also arrested as armed police launched two raids in west London this morning.
Police believe there were almost certainly five bombers on July 21. The fifth man is still on the run.
Reports from Italy said Hussain was 27-years-old and had a brother living in Rome.
Italian police have been collaborating with Scotland Yard and British intelligence agencies.
In London one of the armed raids ended in a siege at a flat on an estate near Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London.
Until today, police had arrested only one of the bomb suspects. Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somalian alleged to have tried to set off a bomb on a train near Warren Street, was held during an operation in Birmingham on Wednesday morning.
Detectives believe there was also a fifth bomber because a fifth device was found in a rucksack dumped on open ground at Little Wormwood Scrubs, a few hundred yards from today’s siege.
It is believed the fifth bomber may have tried to detonate his device on a bus or train but no one noticed and he dumped it.
Today’s siege took place at a block of flats owned by the Peabody Trust and involved elite plainclothes firearms officers and snipers from Scotland Yard’s SO19 unit.
Nicolas Holliman, who lives on the 350-property estate, said he had seen four officers with guns and rifles and a specialist firearms officer in a gas mask.
They were focusing on a top-floor flat in one of the blocks on the estate and kept asking for “Mohammed” to come out. He was being asked to come out with his hands up, naked or in underclothes,” he said.
Mr Holliman said he could tell there was more than one man in the flat by the way police were shouting and there were vocal protests coming from the flat.
After some time, Mr Holliman said he heard several shots which he believed were gas being fired at the flat and then there was silence.
She said the officers had been trying to reassure the man that he would be safe.
In the other raid less than a mile away, dozens of officers, some wearing gas masks, swooped on the Tavistock Crescent area of Notting Hill, clearing a wide area and cordoning off streets. Snipers were stationed behind parked cars.
During the day there were reports of explosions and gunshots from residents near the raids.
But the explosion is thought to have been police blowing the door off a flat and the “shots” were stun grenades or CS gas.
Armed police also arrested two women at Liverpool Street station in the City of London. The suspects were pinned to the ground just before 2pm, witnesses said.
The operation was carried out by Scotland Yard officers. Both the mainline station and the Underground station were evacuated while police looked at a number of suspect packages.
Witnesses said the two women were in Muslim dress. They were arrested close to the Stansted Express ticket office and handcuffed on the ground.
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