Second arrest in London attack

Move spurs speculation that train bombing was part of coordinated plot

LONDON: A second man has been arrested in connection with the London subway attack, the city’s police said, in what was the clearest indication yet that authorities do not believe the person who planted the bomb acted alone.

The Metropolitan Police force said a 21-year-old man was arrested shortly before midnight on Saturday in the west London borough of Hounslow.

The force said the suspect was being held under the Terrorism Act and was questioned at a south London police station yesterday, but had been neither charged nor identified.

Police yesterday also launched an urgent search of a property in the southwestern suburb of Stanwell that authorities said was linked to the latest arrest.

They continued searching a home in Sunbury, another southwestern London suburb where neighbours were evacuated on Saturday.

Two men were in custody for possible roles in the bombing attack on a rush-hour subway train on Friday morning that injured 30 people in London, including an 18-yearold man who was arrested on Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover.

The two arrests indicated that police and security services believed the attack at the Parsons Green station was part of a coordinated plot, not the act of a single person.

“We are still pursing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace,” Metropolitan Police counterterrorism coordinator Neil Basu said.

Britain’s terror threat level has been downgraded from “critical” to “severe”, meaning that authorities think another attack is highly likely.

The official threat level is not likely to be lowered until police believe all of the plotters have been taken into custody.

Residents of the Sunbury neighbourhood, where an armed police search started on Saturday, were evacuated in a rush and kept away for nearly 10 hours before they were allowed to return to their homes.

The property belonged to an elderly couple who have for years taken in foster children, including refugees from conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.

The pair – Ronald Jones, 88, and his wife Penelope Jones, 71 – had been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for their work with children in need of a stable home.

A friend, Alison Griffiths, said the Joneses were “great pillars of the community” who had taken in several hundred children in the last 40 years.

Neighbours said two young men had been staying with them recently.

Police have not provided details about the extensive search, which began several hours after the first suspect was arrested.

The Islamic State has said Friday’s subway attack was carried out by one of its affiliated units.