British police warn of risk of further London attacks

London's police chief warned today that more cells of would-be bombers could strike the capital.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the capital had been lucky that bombs on three underground trains and a bus had not exploded fully on July 21st.

Three men still wanted for the attacks remained a danger and might not be the only threat, he said. "It does remain possible that those at large will strike again. It does also remain possible that there are other cells that are capable and intent on striking again," he told a police authority meeting.

The failed attacks came exactly two weeks after another team of suicide bombers killed 52 people in the capital.

Police say four British Muslims carried out those bombings, which they have linked to al-Qaeda. The two waves of attacks have put London on high alert, with police maintaining a high profile around the city.

"This is not the B-team, these weren't the amateurs," Sir Ian said of the second group of attackers. "They made a mistake - they only made one mistake and we're very, very lucky."

Police arrested nine men in Tooting, south London, yesterday morning, bringing to 20 the number of people being held in connection with the failed July 21st attacks.

Police said the nine did not include the three suspected bombers they are still hunting.

Yasin Hassan Omar (24), a Somalian, was arrested after being shot with a Taser stun gun when officers stormed the house where he was hiding in Birmingham yesterday morning.

Shortly after he was arrested three other men were held in a raid two miles away in Bankdale Road, Washwood Heath, Birmingham. Those three men are being held in Birmingham.

Police last night raided another flat on the ground floor of Blair House, 200 yards from Stockwell Tube station in south London. Three women were arrested on suspicion of harbouring offenders during another raid linked to the investigation.

Police have also released a new CCTV picture of one of the suspects. The man, who is believed to be the Shepherd's Bush bomber, is seen on board the number 22 bus as it travelled from Wood Lane, west London, towards Wandsworth, south London, last Thursday. He has not yet been identified.

The man, who has a shaved head and beard, is seen wearing dark trousers, a white vest and a wristwatch on his left arm. Last week, detectives released a picture of the same suspect at Westbourne Park station. They believe the new picture shows him after he fled the station when his bomb failed to detonate.

The fourth bomber was captured yesterday, police said.