Sunday, 31 July , 2005, 23:13
London: Police arrested seven people in southern England on Sunday in connection with the failed July 21 London transit bombings and reportedly were investigating the attackers' ties to Saudi Arabia and Italy.
Police made the arrests during raids on two properties in Brighton, on the coast, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said, providing no other details.
In northern Italy, police took a second brother of a main suspect into custody for questioning Sunday, the Italian news agency ANSA said. Another brother of Osman Hussain, also known as Hamdi Issac, was detained Friday.
Sunday's arrests follow dramatic raids earlier this week in London and Rome that netted the four men police believe tried to set off bombs in three subway trains and a bus July 21, two weeks after the deadly July 7 attacks.
Police were searching for those who may have recruited and directed the bombers and built the explosives, while also looking for links between the two terror cells, one made up mostly of Britons of Pakistani descent, the other mainly of east African-born Britons.
In Rome, investigators were interrogating Hussain, 27, an Ethiopian-born British citizen suspected of trying to bomb the Shepherd's Bush subway station in west London.
Hussain was arrested Friday at a Rome apartment reportedly belonging to a brother after police traced calls he made on a relative's cell phone. His brother Remzi Issac also was detained. Britain has requested Hussain's extradition for questioning, and an initial hearing was held Saturday.
His attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, said no formal charges had been filed against Hussain, adding that he was likely to fight extradition.
A second brother, identified as Fati Issac, was detained Sunday in the northern Italian town of Brescia on suspicion of destroying documents sought by investigators.
