British police appeal for images to catch bombers

LONDON - British police appealed to the public on Sunday for images taken at the sites of last week's suspected al Qaeda bomb attacks in the hope they will yield vital clues to catch those who killed at least 49 people.

Police also said they had arrested three people under terrorism laws at London's Heathrow airport early on Sunday but had no cause so far to link them to the bombings. The three men were arrested on arrival in Britain, police sources said.

The arrests came as anxious relatives continued to scour hospitals in search of loved ones missing since Thursday's blasts on three underground trains and a double-decker bus that also wounded 700 people.

London's police, searching for those behind the deadliest peacetime bomb attack in the capital, said the public could play a big role in the investigation by emailing photographs or video footage taken with digital cameras or mobile phones.

"We believe that these images may contain vital information to assist us with the investigation," deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said.

"We have set up a dedicated email address for people to email their images into," he said.

Investigators have also asked mobile phone and internet companies to store the content of voicemails, emails and SMS text messages that were in their systems on the day of the London bombings, a police source told Reuters.

He said it was only the second time they had issued such a request. The first was in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, also blamed on al Qaeda.

Paddick said it would be "pure speculation" to link Sunday's airport arrests to last week's bombings.

He told Sky television: "My understanding is these are reasonably routine arrests under the Prevention of Terrorism Act ... there is no connection that we know of at this stage."

Britain has detained more than 700 people under anti-terrorism laws since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Around 120 have been charged with terrorism offences and another 135 charged under other legislation.

Police have been at pains to stress the inquiry will require slow and meticulous work, including gathering forensic evidence from the four bomb sites, three of which are in subway tunnels.

Police say the three underground bombs went off almost simultaneously, making it more likely they were detonated by timers, rather than suicide bombers. That means the bombers may still be at large and could strike again, they said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, joined other religious leaders in calling for unity among Britain's faith communities as police and Muslim leaders reported a rise in abuse against Muslims after the attacks.

However, Muslim leaders also said they had received thousands of messages of support from non-Muslims who recognise that the vast majority of Britain's 1.6 million Muslims have no sympathy for those who carried out the attacks.

A huge overnight security alert in Britain's second city of Birmingham kept Britons on edge on Sunday.

Police evacuated 20,000 people from the city centre on Saturday night and carried out four controlled explosions on a bus. They found no bombs but said their measures had been justified.

"The threat that we responded to yesterday was very specific," West Midlands police chief constable Paul Scott-Lee said. "The people of Birmingham were in danger last night."

In London, walls, bus stops and poles close to King's Cross station, scene of the worst blast, were covered with photographs of missing people and appeals for information about them.

Wellwishers have left hundreds of bouquets of flowers outside the station, many accompanied by messages testifying to London's multi-ethnic and multinational mix.

"Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist. We are all Londoners," read one message scrawled on a Union Jack flag.

In Rome, Pope Benedict lamented what he termed "revolting terrorist acts" and prayed for the dead and wounded.

- REUTERS