Second suspect held as UK stays on highest alert
A second man has been arrested in connection with Friday’s bombing of a London commuter train that injured 30 people and Britain remained on its highest level of alert on Sunday with soldiers helping provide security.
The 21-year-old man was detained under Britain’s terrorism laws in the west London suburb of Hounslow just before midnight on Saturday, London police said.
Police arrested an 18-yearold man in the departure lounge of Dover port earlier on Saturday, then raided a property in Sunbury, a town near London and about 6km from Hounslow.
The home-made bomb shot flames through a packed train carriage at London’s Parsons Green Tube station on Friday morning, but apparently failed to detonate fully.
Police said on Sunday they were searching a residential property in Stanwell, Surrey, close to the perimeter of London’s Heathrow Airport, in connection with the Hounslow arrest. The search of the property in Sunbury, also in the county of Surrey next to the capital, was continuing.
Local media reported that the Sunbury home belonged to a couple who fostered hundreds of children including refugees.
The BBC said the couple, 88year-old Ronald Jones and Penelope Jones, 71, had been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for their work with children.
Islamic State claimed responsibility, as it has for other attacks in Britain in 2017, including two in London and one at a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in May.
NO EVIDENCE
Interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday the second arrest indicated it was not a “lone-wolf” attack, but there was no evidence Islamic State was involved.
“It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State, or Daesh, will reach in and try to claim responsibility. We have no evidence to suggest that yet,” she said.
Prime Minister Theresa May put Britain on its highest security level of “critical” late on Friday, meaning another attack might be imminent.
Soldiers and armed police were deployed to strategic locations such as nuclear power plants.