A man has been shot by police during a raid involving 250 officers carried out under the Terrorism Act. He was taken to a nearby hospital after police searched a house in Forest Gate, east London. His injuries are not life-threatening. The decision to launch the raid followed discussions between MI5, the anti-terrorist branch and the Health Protection Agency. Residents said Forest Gate was a typical east London "mixed" community with a large number of Bengali and Pakistani families, along with a recent influx of Eastern Europeans.
One neighbour said the operation early this morning had involved "the most police I've seen in my life". Another neighbour said a family lived at the address. "They were respectable and nice people and we do not know anything else. They have always been nice to us," she said.
Always decent, good people. Like this "peaceful" Australian jihadist
"They have lived there for a long time. The kids all go to school locally."
That's because they're all assimilated, bruv.
UPDATE: A 5 mile air exclusion zone is in force according to the BBC video feed
UPDATE 2: From Sky news
Dimple Hirani, 21, a student at London Metropolitan University, said she might have gone to school with one of the teenage boys from the family.
I went to that University! I quit early from my degree due to the number of Bin Laden supporters, support for the 9/11 attacks and opposition to the war on the Taliban.She said: "If it's the house I'm thinking of, I went to school with one of the lads. They were really nice lads and really nice people. I never thought anything of it. Lots of young Muslims these days are getting more religious, especially after 9/11. It's nothing to be suspicious about."
With many thanks to commentor A who sent this in[ Cross Posted at DrunkenBlogging ]
5 comments:
Hey Jonz,
You quit University early because you felt there were too many Bin Laden supporters?
Wow, there's a story. I'd love to hear about that.
Getting back to the story at hand, why do you think there is a five mile air-exclusion zone.
Are they trying to limit news helicopters? Or, do they fear these guys have rocket launchers?
What's going on?
ROP,
At this point, I believe, we can take compfort in the fact that no matter how the BBC reports the story, everyone knows what is going on.
Cartoons, cartoons, cartoons.
Are they trying to limit news helicopters? Or, do they fear these guys have rocket launchers?
It's hard to speculate, although generally we don't really get the news choppers, not like in US of A. I would go with the theory that anything is possible and a hijacked aircarft or projecticle on the house could cause major problems.
Benue,
But, don't you wish you had?
Looks like the long awaited, Koranically sanctioned 'Chemical Jihad', probably in a crowded environment like a tube train:
From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2208954,00.html
A DESPERATE search is under way for a "chemical vest" that a British suicide bomber was ready to deploy in a terror attack on London.
Police fear that the strike, using a home-made chemical device, was imminent after an informant told MI5 that he had seen the lethal garment at the home of two young men.
Last night detectives were at the hospital bedside of a 23-year-old postal worker shot during a raid on his parents’ home, while his younger brother, aged 20, was being questioned at Paddington Green high security police station.
Armed officers who led the assault on the terraced house in Forest Gate, East London, wore oxygen masks and protective chemical gear after a tip-off from MI5 that the device had already been assembled.
However, security chiefs are deeply concerned that there was no sign of the vest inside what they believe is a chemical bomb factory.
No weapons were found either as officers searched the two adjoining properties that have been converted to accommodate a large Bangladeshi family.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said that the pre-dawn raid, codenamed Operation Volga, was ordered in response to “specific intelligence”.
He said that there had been no time to conduct further surveillance, which suggests that the police believed a terrorist was close to launching an attack. The fear is that if chemicals were to be used then a likely target could be a train compartment on the London Underground.
Another theory is that a suicide attacker, wearing the vest under a shirt, could trigger the device in a crowded venue, such as a bar full of people watching an England World Cup match.
It is understood that the main target in yesterday’s raid was the postal worker, who was hit in the shoulder by a single shot fired by a police marksman.
His injuries are not life threatening and he remains under armed guard at the Royal London Hospital.
Scientific experts had to delay their intensive search of the house in Lansdown Road while officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission moved into the property to begin their investigation into the shooting.
After the bungled inquiry into the shooting of the Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber a day after a failed terror attack last July, Scotland Yard chiefs are mindful of the sensitivities surrounding such an incident and want to ensure procedures are followed.Scientists are expected to remain at the property for up to a week searching for any trace of chemicals that have been used in a device.
More than 250 officers were used in the operation, which was the biggest seen in Britain this year. As well as police it involved MI5 agents and bio-chemical experts from the Health Protection Agency.
Such was the operation’s importance that Tony Blair, who has been in Italy, was informed of the raid on Thursday night.
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