London Investigation

LINDSAY TAYLOR:

It's every bit as horrific as people described. The first glimpse of the appalling scenes on the three tube trains on the morning of July the 7th. This is the train underneath Edgware Road Station; seven people died here.

This is the Aldgate train, a commuter's bag still on the tube seat; eight people died here. At Russell Square, it took police over a week to work through the wreckage; 27 people were killed here.

After the attack, they found this car apparently abandoned at Luton Train Station, where they found explosives. Only today it has been revealed there were a reported 16 bombs. X-ray images from inside the car show homemade nail bombs and other devices.

Today, more developments in the search for those trying to carry out the attacks two weeks later: In Birmingham, police arrest one man they believe was involved. Yasin Hassan Omar, now being questioned, it's believed, at Paddington Green Police Station in London. It's believed that he and a second suspect stayed recently at a flat in New Southgate, North London, where yesterday police collected and took away various materials for analysis amid suggestions that bombs were prepared or assembled here.

It's not clear precisely what caused the investigators to swoop on the address in Birmingham, but detectives will want to establish if there's any link between the recovered materials here and the suspect package dealt with in Birmingham. It raises the uncomfortable question whether some of the would-be bombers, three of whom were reportedly seen here a day after last Thursday's failed missions, may have made new devices.

So, what's known about Yasin Hassan Omar? He's suspected of being the man that tried to blow up his device at Warren Street tube station in London. He's originally from Somalia, having arrived in Britain in 1992 at the age of 12 as a refugee with his elder sister. He was put into foster care. In May 2000, he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK. He's a registered tenant of 58 Curtis House, one of the North London flats raided by police.

Detectives interviewing Omar at Paddington Green can hold him for 14 days without charge under the Terrorism Act. They'll be hoping he can provide vital information on the whereabouts of other suspects, and the whole operation. However, he may choose to say nothing.

Omar's flat mate in Curtis House, another suspect bomber, is Muktar Said Ibrahim. He's still on the run, and tonight police fear may have managed to leave Britain for Amsterdam. Detectives believe he's the man who tried to blow up the Number 26 bus in Hackney, East London last Thursday. He may have actually boarded a coach to escape from Britain via Dover.

Today, police were at the home of his parents, who came to Britain from Eritrea seeking asylum in 1992, when he was 14. They've already spoken of their shock and horror over what's happened. At school, Ibrahim was described as a normal teenager. This woman, who doesn't want to be identified, went out with him when they were both 15.

SARAH:

I'd say he was more like any young teenager even of today. When he wasn't in a group: very shy; when he was in the group: very loud, very prominent in the group but, normally, just as any other teenager boy would be.

LINDSAY TAYLOR:

Ibrahim was jailed when 17, for a series of muggings and street attacks, spending time in number of institutions, including Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution. Some believe it was during this time that he became radicalized, later attending the Finsbury Park mosque.

Tonight, there's been another alert at King's Cross. Though the all clear has been given, these are still nervous times in London.