Police kill man, hold 2 in British terror probe

LONDON -- British plainclothes officers fatally shot a man after chasing him through a crowded Underground station yesterday, and antiterrorist police later released video images of four suspects who apparently tried but failed to detonate backpack bombs on London's transit system Thursday.

In a day of fast-paced developments in a city on edge, police searched several houses and arrested two people on antiterrorism charges, at least one of them said to be related to the bombing campaign that has now struck twice against one of the world's busiest transportation systems.

Police released closed-circuit television images of the four men whom they believe fled after Thursday's attempted bombings, which closely mirrored four suicide bombings two weeks earlier that killed 56 people and wounded more than 700. Police said four British Muslim men, three of them with links to Pakistan, carried out the first round of attacks.

In the attacks Thursday, the unidentified suspects apparently set off detonators attached to their bomb-laden backpacks, but for some undisclosed reason the explosives failed to ignite.

It remained unclear last night whether the man shot by police at Stockwell station in south London was one of those pictured on the security camera images. But Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said during a news conference that the shooting was part of antiterrorist operations and ''directly linked" to the investigation of the attacks Thursday

The slain man, who police said had been under surveillance and whom eyewitnesses described as wearing a bulky coat, refused to obey law enforcement officers' orders to stop and was tripped and fatally shot as he attempted to enter a train, according to police accounts. The man had emerged from a house that was under observation in the probe, and officers followed him from there to the station, Scotland Yard said.

A passenger on the train, Mark Whitby, told the BBC that the man didn't appear to be carrying anything, but that his coat looked padded.

''They pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him," Whitby said. ''He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified."

The BBC quoted unnamed security officials as saying that the man was not one of the four suspected bombers.

The fatal shooting may reflect a dramatic change in the rules of engagement for British authorities, who now face the daunting challenge of judging in a split second whether a suspect is a suicide bomber bent on killing civilians.

Roy Ramm, a former Metropolitan Police special operations commander, said British authorities had reinstituted a ''shoot to kill" policy not seen in Britain since the height of the Irish Republican Army's bombing campaign in the 1970s.

Lord Stevens, a former head of Metropolitan Police who now serves on an advisory panel for Interpol's counterterrorism organization, said in an interview with the BBC: ''London is under attack."

He warned that the global wave of terrorism could last 10 or 20 years, and he said intelligence reports raised fears that terrorist cells in the United Kingdom are working toward chemical or biological attacks.

Law enforcement authorities were rushing to examine forensic evidence contained in the four backpacks. Counterterrorism investigators were studying the remnants of the failed bombs to trace their origin and determine whether they were prepared from the same batch of explosive material used in the deadly attacks two weeks ago.

Investigators were also searching for fingerprints, DNA, and other forensic evidence connected to Thursday's attacks. Blair said his force was facing its ''greatest operational challenge ever."

A statement posted yesterday on an Islamic website in the name of an Al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks. The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings. Neither claim of responsibility has been confirmed, and British authorities have cautioned that claims by Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade have been notoriously unreliable.

Although British authorities have yet to confirm who was responsible for the deadly attacks two weeks ago, Blair has publicly stated that he believed the planning and organization of the cell would be traced back to Al Qaeda or an Al Qaeda-inspired cell.

On the grainy images recorded Thursday on security cameras, which are ubiquitous throughout Britain, one suspect was shown running through a subway station. He wore a dark shirt with ''New York" across the front. Another suspect was shown on the upper level of a double-decker bus, while the other two men were shown at separate subway stations, one of them carrying a backpack.

Police issued a nationwide public appeal for help in finding the four men, but cautioned citizens to contact police rather than approach the suspects.

The attacks targeted trains near the Oval, Warren Street, and Shepherd's Bush stations. The double-decker bus, of which some of the windows were blown out after the attempted detonation, was traveling on Hackney Road in east London.

The three affected subway stations remained closed yesterday, and service was suspended on all or sections of several lines throughout the day.

Not far from the Stockwell Underground station where the suspect was fatally shot, another man was arrested and detectives were searching a residence there, according to a police statement.

In Birmingham, Britain's second-largest city, 100 miles northwest of London, police arrested a man under antiterrorism laws at a train station and seized at least two suitcases. It was unclear whether the arrest was connected to Thursday's attacks.

London's daily newspapers reflected the mood of a city eager to hold up a reputation for resilience, but also filled with a sense of dread.

''Britain will not be beaten," vowed a front-page headline in the Daily Express.

''City of Fear," said the banner headline in The Independent, which ran a montage of images reflecting the chaos surrounding the botched bombings.

On London's Harrow Road, heavily armed police and a bomb squad raided a house and detained a man for questioning.

The people gathered along the cordons of police tape said they felt that life had undeniably changed because of the terrorist attacks. The Harrow Road area of northwest London is one of the city's many pockets of ethnic and religious diversity. It features rows of Indian and Caribbean restaurants; a butcher shop named Madina, which specializes in meat prepared under the dietary strictures of Islam; and Bengali Grocery. Muslim residents expressed fears of a backlash against their community and concerns that the civil rights of any young Muslim man carrying a backpack would be violated.

S.E. Said, 19, a British subject of Bangladeshi descent and a devout Muslim, said: ''The people who did this have nothing to do with Islam. But I can tell you as a Muslim, I am getting a lot of bad looks on the street right now."

Aaron and Vanessa Kerr, a young professional couple who live a few doors down from the home police raided yesterday, said they were carrying out their own little act of defiance against the bombers by going out for dinner.

Aaron, 30, said: ''We have to keep on living our lives."

Material from news services was used in this report.