London faces nervous Thursday

2005-08-04 08:05

Peter Walker

London - Commuters and police in London are tense on Thursday as the city saw a massive security operation swing into place two weeks after bungled bombings on its transportation system.

That attack on July 21, in which no one was injured after the bombs apparently failed, itself came exactly a fortnight after four suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 other people on London subway trains and a bus.

While police have not revealed any specific information about a new threat two weeks on from the last attack, London was set to be swamped with security from the morning rush hour onwards.

More than 6 000 police, many of them armed, were due to be on duty in shifts during the day, part of what has become the biggest security deployment in London since World War II.

The British Transport Police, who have the main responsibility for patrolling London Underground stations and buses, have drafted in officers from outside the capital to help.

'Mastermind' extradited

Undercover officers were being posted on trains and buses, trying to spot potential suicide bombers.

In a sign that the city is returning to near-full normality after the attacks, virtually the full London Underground network was set to be operational again from Thursday morning for the first time since July 7.

The main change was the re-opening of the bulk of the busy Piccadilly Line, which serves Heathrow Airport among other destinations, which was targeted by the most deadly bomb on July 7.

The day before, British police filed their first charges against a suspect in relation to the July 21 bombings.

Ismael Abdurahman, 23, was charged under anti-terrorism laws and was due to appear before a magistrate's court in London on Thursday, Scotland Yard said.

The man is not one of the four key suspects whose pictures were released after the abortive bombings, three of whom remain in custody in London with the last in Italy, where he was arrested.

Abdurahman's charge related to having information he knew might be of use for combating terrorism, a police statement said.

British police have arrested 37 people in relation to the July 21 attacks, of whom 14 remain in custody, while one of the prime suspected would-be bombers, Hamdi Issac, is held in Rome.

An Italian judge said on Wednesday that Britain had delivered the documents he needs to start extradition proceedings against Issac, a 27-year-old Briton born in Ethiopia who is also known as Osman Hussein.

Issac was formally charged in Italy on Monday with international terrorism and with possessing false identity documents.

In a fast-moving, international investigation, Zambia officially announced it would deport Haroon Aswat, the alleged mastermind behind London's first attacks on July 7, who was arrested in the capital Lusaka two weeks ago.

- AFP