I thought cops were going to shoot us

Jul 31 2005 By Caroline Smith & Eleanor Gregson, The Sunday Sun

Cops' focus falls on 12 suspects

The massive police investigation into the July 21 London bombings is now centred on 12 people being held, Scotland Yard said last night.

Eleven are in police stations in central London, while another man is in Rome awaiting extradition.

The British suspects are being held under the Terrorism Act 2000 following a week of armed raids across the capital and in Birmingham.

All are being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, or harbouring fugitives.

The two inquiries into the July 7 Tube attack which killed 56 people and the failed bombings on July 21 now have police examining more than 8500 documents and 35,000 CCTV tapes.

Scotland Yard said they had been given extra time to question Yasin Hassan Omar, who was captured after being shot with a stun gun in a raid on a house in the Hay Mills area of Birmingham on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old is suspected of the attempted bombing of a Victoria Line train, near Warren Street and detectives have now been given permission to carry on quizzing him until Wednesday.

Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, alleged to be the Hackney bus bomber, and Ramzi Mohammed, who is being linked with the attempted Oval Tube attack, are being questioned after being seized on Friday.

They surrendered to armed police after a raid at a flat on the Peabody Estate in North Kensington, west London.

Police also arrested Wahbi Mohammed, 23, brother of Ramzi Mohammed, at a raid in Tavistock Crescent, less than a mile from the Peabody Estate, on Friday.

They have confirmed he was being held over the attempted bombings.

Hussain Osman, accused of being the Shepherd's Bush bomber, is in custody in Rome after being captured at his brother's flat.

Police have said they are asking for his extradition under a European arrest warrant.

But Italian detectives are questioning him over possible plans for attacks in their country and his lawyer said last night it could be months before he is returned to Britain. She added she intends to fight any extradition.

Also in custody in London are a man arrested in Stockwell, south London, on Friday, July 22, and two men held in New Southgate, London, on July 24 and 25. It emerged last night that police also arrested another man in Finchley, north London, on Tuesday.

Police have been granted permission to continue questioning each of these men until Tuesday.

Three women were seized on Wednesday in Stockwell on suspicion of harbouring an offender.

Two remain in police custody and the third has been released on police bail until early September.

A further man was arrested in Kennington, south London, on Thursday.

Another 16 people who have been arrested during Scotland Yard's biggest ever manhunt have now been released.

Detailed searches have taken place at 14 addresses in London and two more in Birmingham.

Detectives investigating the failed attacks and the July 7 bombings are examining 8500 documents and 35,000 CCTV tapes.

Two women held on Friday at Liverpool Street station in the City of London under the Terrorism Act have been released without charge.