London - FIVE 7/21 Suspects in Custody (updated)
By Andrew Cochran
Five 7/21 suspects in custody, with four today after one suspect, Yasin Hassan Omar, arrested yesterday in Birmingham. London Times reports that Scotland Yard "arrested the mystery 'fifth man', alleged to be Whabi Mohammad, 22, the brother of Ramzi Mohammad, held in connection with the failed bomb at Oval station." London Times previously reported Muktar Said-Ibrahim, bus bombing suspect, arrested today. MSNBC: "In Rome, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said that Somali-born Osman Hussain, a naturalized British citizen, was picked up by Italian police." Scotland Yard afternoon statement confirmed first three arrests and named last arrestee as "Ramsi Mohammed" prior to arrest of his brother at night as mystery "fifth bomber." Also Haroon Rashid Aswat, possible mastermind with reported ties to UBL, captured in Zambia yesterday.
Steven Emerson on MSNBC: Use of "safe houses" mean possible long-range logistics plan, but if they didn't know what they were set up to do and then surrendered peacefully, they might offer info more easily, unlike 3/11 Madrid bombers who killed themselves when surrounded. Also UBL still "a factor" and has unexpired fatwas - hidden internet messages urge continued operations. "Overwhelming majority" of Muslim leaders here & abroad still tethered to radical Islam - see Counterterrorism Blog post on "bogus fatwa." See Doug Farah's new post on Africa connection. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross on Fox News "Dayside," 1 - 2 pm Eastern time: 7/7 suicide bombers included married men - unusual. Brits didn't want U.S. to grab Haroon Aswat and therefore kept U.S. from him. Walid Phares on MSNBC's "Connected," 5 - 6 pm Eastern. See CT Blog interview with Pierre Rehov, producer of "Suicide Killers" film, on pathology of suicide bombers.
Four 7/21 London bombers now in custody & BBC map of raids
