UK police arrest 13 in anti-terror raids

1.00pm UPDATE

LONDON - Police have arrested 13 men in a series of anti-terror raids across the country, one day after the United States issued a high alert warning.

"The men have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," a police statement said on Tuesday.

The government had resisted calls to match the United States' high state of alert after warnings that al Qaeda bombers might strike in America and played down concerns of an immediate security threat.

On Monday, the United States tightened security and increased its alert level to "High", prompted by Pakistan's capture of a suspected al Qaeda computer expert which yielded documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches.

British newspapers said the material also indicated threats against unspecified targets in Britain.

A police spokesman, however, declined to say if there was a link between intelligence from Pakistan and the raids.

The arrests of the men, in their 20s and 30s, were made in northwest London and in the southern English counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire as well as the northwestern area of Lancashire.

Media reported that some of those detained were British citizens and all of south Asian origin.

About 500 people have been arrested in high-profile swoops in Britain under anti-terror laws brought in after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States but charges have been brought against about only 100 individuals.

The operation was part of extensive inquiries by police and the security service into alleged international terrorism, said police.

SEARCHES CONTINUE

The police said searches were continuing and would take "some time" to complete. Firearms officers were involved in some of the arrests but no firearms or hazardous substances had been recovered so far.

The government this week declined to follow the high-profile reaction in the United States in which police armed with assault rifles were deployed to protect financial centres in New York and Washington.

A security source said there was no change to the deployment of police on British streets and the Home Office (interior ministry), which does not discuss intelligence matters, says it would tell the public if there were an imminent threat.

Britain has been on a "heightened state of alert" for some time.

Media reports said the detainees had been under surveillance for a while and speculated that police may have acted more quickly than originally planned following the arrest of the computer engineer in Pakistan.

In February last year tanks and troops were deployed and troops at Britain's busiest airport, London's Heathrow, after reports al Qaeda was planning a rocket attack on a plane.

- REUTERS