Police: Man shot 'not connected' to bombings

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe...ube/index.html

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police say the man they shot dead at a London Underground station "was not connected" with this week's attempted bombings on the city's transit system.

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets," the police statement said Saturday.

During a news conference following Friday's shooting, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said "this shooting is directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation."

The man -- whose identity has not been released -- on Friday emerged from a south London apartment building that had been under surveillance as part of the investigation into the attempted bombings Thursday.

Officers followed him to the Stockwell Underground station. The man's "clothing and suspicious behavior at the station added to their suspicions," a police statement said.

He challenged police and refused to obey orders, before he was shot and killed Friday morning, Blair said Friday.

Meanwhile, police said Saturday that a second suspect had been arrested in connection with the attempted bombings.

The man was arrested in Stockwell on Friday night by anti-terrorism officers in connection with the failed attacks, police said.

The first arrest came Friday in the same neighborhood.

Police said the two detained men, who have not been identified, were to be questioned Saturday.

The arrests came after police released images of four men caught on closed-circuit television at the incident sites around the time the attacks were attempted.

Friday's shooting is a rarity in London, where police generally are not armed except for special response units.

The latest attacks came two weeks to the day 52 people were killed in four bombings targeting the city's mass transit.

As in the July 7 attacks, three subway trains and a double-decker bus were attacked, but in Thursday's case, the four homemade bombs stuffed in backpacks only "partially detonated," said Assistant Police Commissioner Andy Hayman. He noted that it was too early to determine how they went off.

One person was wounded.
Hayman said police searched three locations Friday, one of which was in West London. Scotland Yard identified the area further saying, "in West Kilburn, W9." Police cordoned off part of Harrow Road in that area.

It is not clear if one of the three locations mentioned includes the place of the arrest.