Police arrest nine under terrorism laws in London

LONDON - Police said on Thursday they had arrested nine men under anti-terrorism laws in south London as part of the investigation into bomb attacks on the capital.

A police spokeswoman said the suspects held in Tooting were not the three suspected bombers still being sought after the botched July 21 attacks on London's transport system. The fourth bomber was captured on Wednesday, police said.

British police earlier today arrested three women on suspicion of harbouring offenders in a raid linked to last week's failed attempts, a police spokeswoman said.

The women were held after an armed raid on a public housing estate in the Stockwell area of south London, close to the underground train station where a Brazilian man was mistakenly shot dead by police as a suspected suicide bomber last week.

"The arrests are in connection with the ongoing investigation into the attacks on July 21," the London police spokeswoman said. She declined to give further details.

Witnesses told Reuters police armed with automatic weapons and shotguns handcuffed the women before taking them away.

The botched bombings on July 21 came two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 people in three underground trains and a bus. Police have linked the suicide bombers to al Qaeda.

- REUTERS