British police investigating a series of failed bomb attacks in London said yesterday they had arrested four men in the English city of Birmingham.
One man was arrested during a police search of a home in England's second largest city of Birmingham, at 4:30am, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said. The man was shot with a stun gun during the search and police said they uncovered a suspicious package, which was being examined by explosives experts.
Three other men were arrested shortly after at another home in the city, about 190km northwest of London.
"The operations are in connection with the incidents in London on July 21," the spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. Four bombs were planted on London Underground trains and a bus on that day, but they failed to fully detonate.
Police have since then launched a manhunt after releasing images of four men thought responsible for planting the devices. They released the names of two of the suspects.
Officials could not confirm reports that one of the men arrested in Birmingham was one of the four suspected bombers.
Police have been trying to determine whether last week's failed bombings were connected to the deadly July 7 attacks that killed 52 people and the four suicide bombers who carried them out.
In a separate development, two other men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism while traveling on a train in the midlands region.
Lincolnshire police said the train, which was on its way to London's King's Cross station from Newcastle, was stopped at Grantham where the men were arrested at 11pm Tuesday.
The men were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and would be questioned yesterday. It was not immediately clear if the arrests were linked to the investigation into the London bombings.
The Birmingham arrests also came as police explosives experts were examining suspicious material found in a north London apartment connected to two men suspected of planting failed bombs, both identified as African immigrants who moved to Britain as children.
The bombs, which failed to fully detonate, were stored in clear plastic food containers and put into dark-colored bags or backpacks. A spokesman said those four bombs were similar to another found abandoned in a park Saturday, raising fears that a fifth bomber is on the loose.
The police spokesman said the first man arrested was being brought to the high-security Paddington Green police station in central London, while the other three were being held in Birmingham.
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Police say bombers played in Wales
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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