July 7 bomber's widow held in raids

The widow of suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan has been arrested during anti-terror raids in connection with the July 7 London bombings in which 52 people died.

Hasina Patel, 29, her brother Arshad, 30, and Khalid Khaliq, 34, were detained in West Yorkshire, while a third man, Imran Motala, 22, was held in Birmingham in connection to the 2005 attacks.

The pre-planned raids come after three men last month became the first people to appear in court over the London bombings.

Seven addresses in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire are being searched. One of them - in Beeston - is close to the family home of bomber Shehzad Tanweer.

The four have being taken to a central London police station where they will be kept in custody and interviewed by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's Counter Terrorism Command.

Fifty-two people were killed when four suicide bombers set off devices in three packed rush hour London Underground Tube trains and a crowded bus on July 7, 2005.

The bombers - Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad 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.

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."

West Yorkshire Police said officers are meeting with locals to keep them updated and informed about activity in their areas and thanked residents "for their understanding and support at this time".

There has been criticism of both the police and the security services over their handling of the July 7 attacks after it emerged last week that links were missed between two of the suicide bombers and those recently convicted for the fertiliser bomb plot.

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