The Columbus Dispatch

UK makes ‘significan­t’ arrest but attack seen as imminent

- By Gregory Katz

LONDON — British police made an apparent breakthrou­gh Saturday in the raceagains­t-time subway bombing investigat­ion with what they called a “very significan­t” arrest, but the country remained on a “critical” alert, meaning that another attack is judged imminent.

Police arrested an 18-year-old man in the port of Dover — the main ferry link to France — and then launched a massive armed search in the southweste­rn London suburb of Sunbury in which they evacuated residents, establishe­d a huge cordon and imposed a no-fly zone above the property being searched.

Police did not say that they had nabbed the man believed to have planted the bomb that partially exploded on a crowded London subway train Friday morning, but Home Secretary Amber Rudd and others said the arrest was of major importance.

The man is being held under the Terrorism Act and has been brought to London for questionin­g. His identity is a closely Police watch over the crowds outside Wembley Park Station ahead of a soccer match Saturday. After a terrorist attack Friday on a train at Parsons Green Station in London, British authoritie­s have maintained a high alert.

guarded secret and police have implored the press not to speculate while the inquiry unfolds. Authoritie­s would not say if they thought the man was trying to flee to France on a Dover ferry.

It’s clear that Britain’s police and security services are still worried. Hundreds of soldiers patrolled public areas Saturday, freeing up police for the bombing investigat­ion. Rudd said the country’s terror threat level — which was raised Friday night to the highest possible level — will stay there until the independen­t

Joint Terrorism Analysis Center is convinced the threat of imminent attack has eased.

The homemade bomb on the rush-hour train only partially detonated — Rudd said it could have been much worse — and there are fears that accomplice­s may have similar devices. Experts said the bomb could have caused many fatalities if it had functioned properly. Three of the 29 people injured by the blast remained hospitaliz­ed Saturday.

Rudd, frustrated by the string of terrorist attacks in recent months, said officials

will have to work harder to make bomb components more difficult to obtain.

“(We must) “make sure to take all steps that we can to ensure the sort of materials that this man was able to collect” are harder to find, she said.

The fast-moving inquiry shifted to the pleasant town of Sunbury, where neighbors were ordered to evacuate immediatel­y by police.

Mojgan Jamali, who lives near the house being searched, said police gave her “one minute” to pack.

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[TIM IRELAND/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]
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