More terrorism suspects held

2005-07-31 18:06

London - Police arrested seven people in southern England on Sunday in connection with the failed July 21 London transit bombings and reportedly were investigating the attackers' ties to Saudi Arabia and Italy.

Eighteen people are now being held in connection with the July bombings.

Police raided two properties in Brighton, on the south coast, taking seven people into custody, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said, providing no other details about the arrests.

In northern Italy, police took a brother of one main suspect into custody for questioning on Sunday, the Italian news agency ANSA said, but he was not accused of terrorism, ANSA said.

The arrests follow dramatic raids earlier this week in London and Rome that netted the four men police believe tried to set off bombs in three subway trains and on a bus on July 21, two weeks after the deadly July 7 attacks.

Searching

Police were searching for those who may have recruited and directed the bombers and built the explosives while also probing for links between the two terrorist cells, one made up mostly of Britons of Pakistani descent and the other mainly of east African-born Britons.

In Rome, investigators were interrogating Osman Hussain, 27, an Ethiopian-born British citizen suspected of trying to bomb the Shepherd's Bush subway station in west London.

Hussain was arrested on Friday at a Rome flat reportedly belonging to a brother after police traced calls he made on a relative's cell phone. Britain has requested his extradition for questioning, and an initial hearing was held on Saturday.

Extradition

His attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, said no formal charges had been filed against Hussain, adding that he was likely to fight extradition.

A brother, identified as Fati Issac, was detained on Sunday in the northern Italian town of Brescia on suspicion of destroying documents sought by investigators, ANSA said.

Police also discovered that Hussain called Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported, and the Sunday Times said another bombing suspect went on a month-long visit to Saudi Arabia in 2003, telling friends he was to undergo training there.

Hussain reportedly told investigators the bombers were motivated by anger over the Iraq war.

Attention

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

Hussain told interrogators he was not carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby", the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Italian law requires that the ongoing investigation remains secret.

Hussain also said the bombers had been led by a man called "Muktar", the Rome daily La Repubblica reported.

"Muktar showed us videos with images of the war in Iraq," Hussain said, according to Italian reports.

Suspect Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, was arrested on Friday in London.

- AP