Intelligence

As police move in, a scare for survivor of Tube blast

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Sean O’Neill, Nicola Woolcock, Stewart Tendler, Daniel McGrory and Adam Luck
Suspects arrested in simultaneous raids after intelligence report
THE deafening bang at 11am shook Michael Henning to his core, taking him back to July 7 when he was cut by flying glass and metal as he stood six feet from a suicide bomber on a Circle Line train.

Frightened, claustrophobic and confused, he ran outside, feeling the need to escape and to find out why he was being bombed again. Mr Henning, 39, a broker at Lloyd’s of London who lives close to the Dalgarno Gardens estate in North Kensington, said: “I heard the explosion and instantly knew what it was, although I desperately tried to think of every other possible reason.

“I had to get out, get away from being trapped inside, get into the open air. I feel safer down here. I saw police arrive in helmets and masks. Seconds later it sounded like five or six gunshots, although they could have been explosions.”

Three weeks after surviving the Aldgate bomb, Mr Henning found himself in the middle of an anti-terrorist raid to capture two of the would-be bombers from July 21. He said: “It seems to be following me around.”

The bangs had been stun grenades, fired by police into a flat in K block on the Peabody Trust estate where the suspects — Ramzi Mohammad and Muktar Said-Ibrahim — had been holed up for a week.

A mile to the east, close to Portobello Road, armed police raided an address on the corner of Basing Street and Tavistock Crescent. Their target was Whabi Mohammad, 22, brother of Ramzi. The raids were simultaneous and executed at less than two hours’ notice after intelligence was received at 9.30am.

The commanders of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch met to decide strategy. Firearms teams and bomb disposal technicians were selected for each location.

Officers wanted to avoid the mistakes of previous operations — the mistaken shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and what they see as the incorrect decision to disable Yasin Hassan Omar, the suspected Warren Street bomber, with a stun gun during his detention in Birmingham. An air exclusion zone was requested over West London for the time of the raid. Air-traffic control diverted aircraft and the police helicopter was kept on the ground. A news blackout was also requested.

The information that clinched the decision to act was a call from a member of the public which confirmed intelligence. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the anti-terrorist branch, authorised the raid. It is not known whether it came as tip from an informant, from interviews with a suspect, through intelligence or via a telephone trace or tap. With firearms teams and bomb disposal units on standby at locations across London, the decision was taken to tackle the addresses as quickly as possible.

Charlotte Brown, 16, was at home when she heard the commotion as officers ran along Tavistock Crescent towards the block of flats. She said: “I heard maybe gunshots or bangs and then there was someone shouting. I didn’t know it was the police. It was quite frightening. Police knocked on the door and told us to leave. There were people in protective clothing.”

The suspect, sources said, gave himself up quietly as police stormed the flat. He was stripped then clothed in a white, hooded suit used to preserve scientific evidence on suspects’ bodies and prevent contamination.

Officers in blue suits led him to a vehicle and he was driven away as search and explosives teams moved into the building.

Security sources say they are still investigating his alleged role in the bomb plot, but there are suspicions that he may be linked to the discarded device at Little Wormwood Scrubs.

While events moved quickly at Tavistock Crescent, officers hit problems at Dalgarno Gardens. Stun grenades were fired into the flat but officers did not storm it.

The blasts — intended to deafen and daze but not harm — knocked residents in neighbouring flats off their feet.

As people emerged to see what was happening they were confronted by police, some in balaclavas and armed with automatic weapons, shouting at them to get back inside.

Scotland Yard said the operation was entering a “challenging phase” and asked news channels to stop broadcasting live footage from the scene.

There was concern that the bombers might react in the same way the Madrid terrorists did when they were cornered and set off a huge bomb.

Officers were trying to coax the suspects out of the block of flats. Residents, many cowering in their homes, heard police shouting to “Mohammed” to strip down to his underwear and leave the flat with his arms in the air. It seemed that officers did not know how many men were in the flat.

One woman, who declined to be named, said: “I heard police shout, ‘You need to come out of the flat in your underwear with your arms in the air.’ He said, ‘How do I know you’re not going to shoot me and why do I have to just wear my underwear?’ They said, ‘So we know you’ve got no explosives on you.’ He sounded scared.

“A more aggressive police officer came on the loudspeaker telling him to maintain contact. He didn’t. Then a SWAT team arrived.” Police had fired a volley of CS gas canisters into the flat, which flushed out both men. They emerged on the balcony, hands above their heads. Both were stripped to the waist and spitting as they recovered from the effects of the gas. Guns were trained on them as they were ordered to remove the rest of their clothes.

Minutes later they were clothed in forensic suits and taken away. Further news followed from Rome and by last night Scotland Yard believed that five would-be bombers were in custody.

One was in the hands of Italian police. The other four — suspected of planning mass murder in the warped belief that they would go to paradise — were, instead, in the cells at Paddington Green.

July 30, 2005 at 01:25 AM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home