Thursday, July 28, 2005; Posted: 7:44 p.m. EDT (23:44 GMT)
Police in Tooting after Thursday's raid
Police detained nine people in an early morning raid in south London on
(CNN) -- About a month before the July 7 bombings in London, British authorities balked at giving U.S. officials permission to apprehend a man now believed to have ties to the bombers, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, of Indian heritage, is currently in custody in Zambia, U.S. and Zambian officials told CNN.
U.S. authorities wanted to capture Aswat, who was then in South Africa, and question him about a 1999 plot to establish a "jihad training camp" in Bly, Oregon.
According to the sources, U.S. officials had located Aswat in South Africa weeks before the July 7 attacks that killed 52 bus and subway travelers and the four bombers.
U.S. authorities had asked South Africa if they could take Aswat into custody. South Africa relayed the request to Britain, but authorities there balked because he was a British citizen, the sources said. While the debate was ongoing, Aswat slipped away. (Full story)
British authorities now suspect Aswat lent support to the July 7 bombers.
According to U.S. officials, Aswat was an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorist camp case, which resulted in a guilty plea in 2003 by the main defendant, James Ujaama, of Seattle, Washington. (Full story)
Meanwhile Thursday in Britain -- one week after failed attacks on London's transit system that appeared to imitate the July 7 bombings -- a nationwide manhunt focused on three of the suspected terrorists.
Authorities have taken 20 people in custody, including one of the suspected bombers, as part of the investigation into the July 21 attacks on three Underground trains and a double-decker bus.
Nine men were arrested in the Tooting area of south London early Thursday -- six at one address and three at another, according to Metropolitan Police. Searches at the addresses were ongoing.
But as those arrests were announced, the country's top police official said more attacks were possible if the three other suspects in the attempted bombings remained at large.
"It does remain possible that those at large will strike again," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said. "It does also remain possible that there are other cells who are capable and intent on striking again."
As part of its investigation into the attempted bombings, police have taken 1,800 witness statements, have received 5,000 calls to the terrorist tip line, and are examining 15,000 closed-circuit television tapes.
The British government also announced that the Brazilian man mistakenly shot and killed by police at an Underground station last week had a false stamp on his passport and had been in Britain for two years with an expired visa. (Full story)
Police arrested three women Wednesday night on suspicion of "harboring offenders" in connection with the July 21 plot.
They were taken from a south London apartment raided by armed police and remained in custody Thursday in central London.
Three neighbors told CNN that one of the suspected would-be bombers -- the one who allegedly tried to set off a bomb at the city's Shepherd's Bush Underground Station -- lived there, having recognized him in a new photo released by police.
Resident Donna Priestley Moore said two of the women arrested were accompanied by children, including a toddler and a baby.
The apartment building, known as Blair House, is in the Stockwell neighborhood near the Stockwell Underground station where the Shepherd's Bush Station bomber and two other suspected bombers boarded their trains.
Police released a new picture of the suspected Shepherd's Bush bomber on Wednesday. It shows him in a closed-circuit television image riding a bus nearly an hour and a half after police say he tried to detonate his bomb.
Police believe the man -- who was previously pictured at the Stockwell station carrying a backpack and wearing a dark blue England soccer shirt -- threw that shirt away after fleeing the station, leaving it on a road that runs parallel to the train tracks. He then rode a bus for 50 minutes.
"We need to know where he went when he got off the bus," said Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch.
Three would-be bombers hunted
Arrested Wednesday as a suspect in the July 21 attempts was Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, a Somali with British residency.
Omar -- arrested in Birmingham, 100 miles north of London -- is suspected of placing a backpack bomb at London's Warren Street Underground station.
Clarke said he resisted arrested and was subdued after being shot with a Taser "stun gun." No gunshots were fired.
There was no intelligence to suggest that there were explosives in the house, Clarke said. But about 100 nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.
Clarke called Omar's arrest "an important development in the investigation." He was taken to the high-security Paddington Green police station in London.
Three other men were arrested at a another address in Birmingham about the same time early Wednesday morning and were taken to another station.
"The second attacks on the 21st of July should not be taken as some indication that the weakening of the capability or resolve of those responsible," said Blair, the police commissioner.
"This is not the B-team. These weren't the amateurs. They made a mistake, they made one mistake. We are very, very lucky."
In addition to Omar, police have identified one other suspected bomber, Muktar Said Ibrahim, who was born in Eritrea and became a British citizen in 2003.
Residents of a north London building apartment raided Monday by Metropolitan Police have said Omar and Ibrahim lived together.
Three other men detained in connection to the July 21 probe remain in Paddington Green. Two others have been released.
CNN's Kelli Arena Nic Robertson, Henry Schuster, Phil Hirschkorn and Andrew Carey contributed to this report.
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had this been the US and Bush, you people would be all over it like stink on a monkey
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:25 pm Posts: 35180 Location: Brasil Gender: Male
Peeps wrote:
The British government also announced that the Brazilian man mistakenly shot and killed by police at an Underground station last week had a false stamp on his passport and had been in Britain for two years with an expired visa.
its just me, or this text is looking like "Oh man he had a false stamp, it was ok to shot him 7 times on the head for doing NOTHING"
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psychobain wrote:
Peeps wrote:
The British government also announced that the Brazilian man mistakenly shot and killed by police at an Underground station last week had a false stamp on his passport and had been in Britain for two years with an expired visa.
its just me, or this text is looking like "Oh man he had a false stamp, it was ok to shot him 7 times on the head for doing NOTHING"
No but it could be an explanation why he ran away from the police, which sadly made him a suspect. It's still tragic and makes me think the terrorists already won.
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davejeni wrote:
Germany are a threat to Americans australians, israelis & canadians & commonwealth countries. (...) Germany will launch a nuclear attack on these countries once it has defeated Iran.(that aint to far away)
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spaggy boy wrote:
Chris_H_2 wrote:
I'll bet any money this thread is relegated to the second page by tonight or tomorrow . . .
Of course it will be. There is nowhere else other than America right??
There are 3 huge threads about the events in England. I don't get the complaints that this one, which arguably could have been part of these other three, will not get any attention.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
psychobain wrote:
Peeps wrote:
The British government also announced that the Brazilian man mistakenly shot and killed by police at an Underground station last week had a false stamp on his passport and had been in Britain for two years with an expired visa.
its just me, or this text is looking like "Oh man he had a false stamp, it was ok to shot him 7 times on the head for doing NOTHING"
No. He was an al-Queda decoy, so it was OK to shoot him 7 times in the head.
Quote:
Tom Tomorrow: Fox News explains it all to you
Apparently a guest on Fox News has suggested that the innocent man shot by London police may have been an al Qaeda decoy:
Quote:
IT WOULDN'T BE OUT OF THE QUESTION FOR THEM TO PICK ON SOMEONE WHO MAY NOT BE MIDDLE EASTERN BUT WHO MAY LOOK MIDDLE EASTERN. SAY, SOMEONE WHO IS FROM SOUTH AMERICA, SOMEONE WHO IS FROM CENTRAL AMERICA, AND, SAY, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW THEY'RE RACIAL PROFILING US, SO WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO GET SOME PUBLIC OPINION ON OUR SIDE. LET'S DRESS THIS GUY UP, TELL HIM TO ACT SUSPICIOUS, AND IF THE POLICE APPROACH HIM, TELL HIM TO RUN AWAY, AND WHEN THE POLICE CATCH HIM, THEN HE APPEARS TO BE INNOCENT, SO, YOU KNOW, IN ESSENCE, THEY START SENDING OUT DECOYS. THEY CAN DO ALL KIND OF THINGS WHEN THEY KNOW THAT YOUR NET -- THAT YOU HAVE CAST A NET THAT'S THAT NARROW.
(Via Atrios.) There are times when I really don't know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe next someone will suggest that the taxi driver known only as Dilawar tortured himself to death, to make the U.S. look bad.
Hey, FoxNews, you're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind. Hey, FoxNews!
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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Peeps wrote:
had this been the US and Bush, you people would be all over it like stink on a monkey
What's your point? Of course we would be. You wouldn't too if your president fucked up like that? Or would you just give him a free pass like he's gotten for NEVER CAPTURING THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR 9/11?
I agree, some people go overboard with blaming Bush, but he's certainly had his share of undeniable fuck ups. It works in both directions. Some people blame him for every little thing, so some people defend him without question. They're both wrong.
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B wrote:
spaggy boy wrote:
Chris_H_2 wrote:
I'll bet any money this thread is relegated to the second page by tonight or tomorrow . . .
Of course it will be. There is nowhere else other than America right??
There are 3 huge threads about the events in England. I don't get the complaints that this one, which arguably could have been part of these other three, will not get any attention.
had this been the US and Bush, you people would be all over it like stink on a monkey
What's your point? Of course we would be. You wouldn't too if your president fucked up like that? Or would you just give him a free pass like he's gotten for NEVER CAPTURING THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR 9/11?
I agree, some people go overboard with blaming Bush, but he's certainly had his share of undeniable fuck ups. It works in both directions. Some people blame him for every little thing, so some people defend him without question. They're both wrong.
cmon ara, drama queens use caps like that, not scary looking men
i dont think i personally defend bush, as i have said, he isnt the brightest bulb on the porch, but i do think hes atleast doing as good of a job running the country then probably 99.99999% of the people that bash
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Maybe the British didn't want to turn the guy over to the Americans because they remember those two British nationals who were held for over 2 years at Gitmo only to be released because we had nothing on them.
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punkdavid wrote:
Maybe the British didn't want to turn the guy over to the Americans because they remember those two British nationals who were held for over 2 years at Gitmo only to be released because we had nothing on them.
Yes, and as it turns out it was much safer to go the route they did rather than risk interrogating a possible patsy . . .
This is a perfect example of why the debate pitting the issue of personal freedoms vs. national security (See Patriot Act discussion) is not as cut and dry or black and white as some people make it out to be.
Maybe the British didn't want to turn the guy over to the Americans because they remember those two British nationals who were held for over 2 years at Gitmo only to be released because we had nothing on them.
Yes, and as it turns out it was much safer to go the route they did rather than risk interrogating a possible patsy . . .
This is a perfect example of why the debate pitting the issue of personal freedoms vs. national security (See Patriot Act discussion) is not as cut and dry or black and white as some people make it out to be.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:31 pm Posts: 2423 Location: White Hart Lane Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
Maybe the British didn't want to turn the guy over to the Americans because they remember those two British nationals who were held for over 2 years at Gitmo only to be released because we had nothing on them.
That's absolute shite.
Your just jealous because we're gonna make you look bad in so far as we are actually going to bring terrorists to justice...
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There are 3 huge threads about the events in England. I don't get the complaints that this one, which arguably could have been part of these other three, will not get any attention.
