London police released on Friday closed-circuit television (CCTV) images of four men they are “urgently” seeking in connection with the attempted suicide bombings the day before on London’s public transport system.
“We are going to be issuing CCTV images of four men we urgently want to trace,” metropolitan police Assistant Commissioner Any Hayman told a press conference before showing images of the suspected bombers.
The grainy images showed casually dressed men — one wearing a dark-blue “New York” sweatshirt — on deserted underground trains and in empty tunnels leading to the stations.
All four men appeared to be dark-skinned, and two were wearing baseball caps. One of them was looking over his shoulder as he walked with a bulging rucksack on his back, while another seemed to be running through a tunnel.
Hayman said “if anyone believes they know the identity of the men or has other information about them or their movements”, they should immediately contact the police.
“It’s time for the public to do what they’re very good at, which is to support investigations,” he said, adding that the investigations are very “fast moving”.
Shooting linked to investigation
The fatal shooting of a man by police in a south London subway station on Friday is “directly linked” to the ongoing terrorist investigation, metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair said.
“The information I have available is that this shooting [in Stockwell station] is directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation,” Blair told reporters.
“As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions,” he said, a day after a failed attempt to repeat the July 7 suicide bombings in London that left 56 people dead.
London police also said on Friday the bombs that failed to explode on underground train stations and a bus the day before were “home-made”.
“Initial investigations indicate that a bomb partly detonated at at least four of the locations … At this stage it’s too early to tell how these were detonated,” Assistant Commissioner Hayman told a press conference. — AFP