Police raid London bomb-making factories
July 26, 2005 - 2:12PM TheAGE Police searched a north London flat thought to be a bomb-making factory amid claims that two suspects in the city's bus and Tube bomb attacks are asylum seekers who have received thousands of pounds in state welfare payments. On another fast-moving day in Britain's biggest manhunt, police said they were "racing against time" to prevent another terror strike. They said two men had been arrested under anti-terrorism laws - bringing the total in custody to five - but warned they could not rule out another attack. Police are still hunting for the four suspected bombers behind botched attacks on London's transport network on July 21 that have raised fears among residents that the city is now a firm target for Islamist militants. On July 7, suicide bombers killed 56 people, including themselves, on three underground railway trains and a bus. "There will be people who know something. It is part of our duty in order to protect the country that people come forward and give the police the information that they can," Prime Minister Tony Blair said. Officers raided a housing estate in north London used by at least one of the suspected bombers. They searched a flat dubbed "Terror tower" and "Bomb factory on ninth floor" by newspapers as fears grew the property was used to make bombs. Police chiefs said they were racing against time to stop any further attacks by militants they link to al-Qaeda. Newspapers today said one suspect had lived in a flat on the estate and had claimed £23,000 ($A52,825) of state benefits to pay the rent over six years. Under the headline "Bomber on Benefits", the Sun said 24-year-old Yasin Hassan Omar - named as one of the suspects pictured in security camera footage - helped plot the July 21 attacks while living in the flat. It said the Home Office was checking his immigration status. The Daily Mail said at least two of the suspects were believed to have entered Britain as asylum seekers from East Africa and had received state welfare payments. Immigration was a major political battleground when Britain held national elections in May, with many voters concerned about overcrowded public services and housing shortages. Michael Howard, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, accused Blair at the time of "pussyfooting" on immigration and said people wanted stricter controls. Opponents accused him in turn of playing the "race card". The four suicide bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks were all British Muslims, three of them of Pakistani origin. Police released more pictures of the suspects involved in the attempted July 21 attacks and gave details of the bombs. Armed police and officers with dogs trained to sniff out explosives patrolled the transport system and there were more security alerts in the capital. The wail of sirens has become a regular sound on London's streets since the attacks. London's anti-terrorist police chief Peter Clarke said a bomb found in a west London park was similar to those used in the botched attacks. Police were trying to establish if the device belonged to a fifth man or if one of the attackers had carried two bombs. Clarke said all the bombs had been packed in the same kind of plastic food container and hidden in dark rucksacks. The investigation suffered a setback at the weekend when police said they had shot a Brazilian man in error after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber. Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot in the head after being chased onto an underground train by undercover police. Three-quarters of the public thought bombings and security scares would be part of London life for the foreseeable future, according to an opinion poll published by the Times. - Agencies [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
