Bomber's widow held in anti-terror raid

The widow of July 7 suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan was among four people arrested in a series of anti-terror raids today.

Five houses in West Yorkshire and two flats in Birmingham were cordoned off and searched by police.

Unarmed police carried out the raids which are connected to the 2005 London bombings in which 52 people were killed.

The three men and one woman were arrested just after 7am today and taken to a central London police station to be interviewed by anti-terror officers.

They are being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Local sources named the 29-year-old woman as Hasina Patel, who lives with others in a two-storey mid-terrace house on Dale Street, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury.

Police were seen leaving and entering the property, where the curtains were closed and a red Vauxhall was parked in the driveway.

Police officers were also seen in unmarked cars outside the three-bedroom Housing Association house.

One local resident said he saw police arriving outside the house early this morning.

He said: "They are good neighbours and we've had no problems - they're always smiling."

Two men, aged 30 and 34, were also arrested in West Yorkshire.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said two houses are being searched in Dewsbury, two in Beeston, south Leeds, and one in Batley.

The fourth person, a 22-year-old, was arrested at 7.25am in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham.

West Midlands Police said: "This arrest was in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on July 7 2005 and was conducted by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command with the support of officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit."

Full forensic searches were being conducted at two properties in Birmingham, including a house in the Handsworth area of the city and another in Selly Oak.

"A police presence will be visible at this location for a number of days," the statement said.

Police sources confirmed later that Hasina Patel, the widow of ringleader Khan, was one of those arrested in Dewsbury.

In the Selly Oak area of Birmingham, police stood guard at a student hall of residence believed to be the location of one of the raids.

A police lorry took away a silver Peugeot 307 from the Victoria Hall block of flats on Grange Road.

In Beeston, south Leeds, police officers were patrolling the streets.

On Tempest Road, close to the family home of Aldgate bomber Shehzad Tanweer, an officer guarded the front door of an address while another stood guard in the back garden.

Next-door neighbour Carole Condon, 59, said an Asian family had lived at the address for a number of years.

She said the family consisted of a mother and father, two brothers and a sister.

"They were very quiet," she said. "I didn't really know them but they would say hello. I don't know their surname but they were always quite friendly.

"Their children would take the bins out into the back garden and I would say hello."

She said the family owned a number of vehicles and would be seen coming and going.

Ms Condon said she was shocked but did not see anyone being led away and noticed the police presence only when she got up this morning.

Further down Tempest Road a single police officer stood outside another property.

A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, confirmed it was the same home which was raided and boarded up by police in the immediate aftermath of the 7/7 bombings.

Two years ago the red-brick terrace house was clad in scaffolding and plastic sheets as police carried out a detailed forensic search of the property.

Today the operation was more low key with only a single officer standing in the front yard.

A neighbour said: "An Asian couple lived there with their three kids. They are fairly young and I don't know too much about them."

London was thrown into chaos in 2005 when the four suicide bombers set off their devices in three packed rush hour London Underground Tube trains and a crowded bus.

The perpetrators - Khan, Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain - all died in the attacks.

Last month, three men became the first people to appear in court charged with conspiring with the four terrorists.

Mohammed Shakil, 30, Sadeer Saleem, 26, and Waheed Ali, 23, from Beeston, Leeds, were arrested in March and appeared at the Old Bailey via video link on April 20.

The Metropolitan Police have always insisted the "painstaking" investigation into the bombings was far from over, with leads being followed up in the UK and abroad.

In Selly Oak in Birmingham, university students described the moment the raid unfolded.

Nisha Karwal, a third-year biological sciences student who lives in Victoria Hall, said: "We saw the police outside the flats at around 8am.

"I saw a police van and about four officers not in uniform who were coming in and out of the P block.

"We didn't think it was to do with terrorism at all, we are very surprised.

"It's really scary. My dad wanted me to come home."

Miss Karwal, from west London, said she thought the silver Peugeot which was towed away earlier by police belonged to an Asian girl involved with the university's cricket society.

Another student, who did not wish to be named, said: "I wouldn't expect anything like this at the University of Birmingham, where we are all very well integrated.

"But at the end of the day, whoever's been arrested is innocent until proven guilty."

Details of the identity of Khan's widow leaked out soon after news of the arrests broke, despite the head of counter terrorism's warning just two weeks ago.

Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said lives were being put at risk by intelligence being given to the media.

There has been criticism both of the police and the security services over their handling of the July 7 attacks.

It emerged last week that links were missed between two of the suicide bombers and those recently convicted for the fertiliser bomb plot.

MI5 observed July 7 ringleader Khan and sidekick Tanweer meeting the fertiliser plotter Omar Khyam on numerous occasions in 2004 - a year before they detonated their bombs.

It was also claimed that Khan came to the attention of counter-terrorist police just five months before the 2005 bombings.