Police search Yorkshire homes
2005-07-12 11:21
London - Police raided five locations in West Yorkshire, northeast England, early on Tuesday in connection with last week's bombings in London, the Metropolitan Police said.
"This morning, in a pre-planned intelligence-led operation, Metropolitan Police officers executed search warrants issued under the Terrorism Act 2000 at four residential premises in West Yorkshire," a police spokesperson said.
"Police are currently attending a fifth address. There are no arrests at this stage. The searches are in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on July 7. The operation continues."
The spokesperson did not identify where in West Yorkshire the raids were taking place, but the county includes Leeds and Bradford, one-time industrial centres with large Muslim populations of South Asian origin.
Britain's domestic Press Association said police had sealed off a section of a street in the Beeston section of Leeds, with police tape marking off a red Volkswagen car outside one address.
Fifty-two people have been confirmed dead, and hundreds injured, after bombs went off during morning rush hour last Thursday on three London subway trains and a double-decker bus.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has linked the attacks - the deadliest on British soil since World War II - to Islamic extremists.
Tuesday's raids - supported by officers from West Yorkshire Police - were believed to be the first to be carried out by anti-terrorist police in Britain in connection with the bombings.
Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair told BBC London radio: "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."
The Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, is responsible for policing the greater London area. It also takes the lead in major anti-terrorist investigations anywhere in Britain.