Bomber was on MI5 radar last year, says report

British secret services last year vetted one of the bombers behind the London attacks and judged he was not a threat, a report said on Sunda...

British secret services last year vetted one of the bombers behind the London attacks and judged he was not a threat, a report said on Sunday, as police searched for a support network of planners, bomb-makers and financiers.

The British police have arrested a person in northern England in connection with the July 7 bombings in London, Sky TV reported on Sunday. The report said the arrest was made in Yorkshire, but gave no further details.

The Sunday Times, citing a senior government source, said intelligence agency MI5 had assessed Mohammad Sidique Khan, but concluded he posed no threat and did not put him under surveillance. His name cropped up during an investigation into an alleged plot to explode a bomb outside a London target, believed to be a Soho nightclub.

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The government refused to be drawn. ‘‘We never comment on the activities of security services,’’ an official said. Investigations into the July 7 bomb attacks which tore through London’s transport system, killing 55 people, have fanned out across the world. The police have said they expect to find clear links to Al Qaeda.

Scotland Yard released the first CCTV image of the four bombers together, which the police hope will trigger new information from the public.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke will tell Parliament on Monday about planned laws to target anyone receiving or giving training in preparation for terrorist acts and to outlaw those who glorify or encourage such attacks.

In Pakistan, security forces have detained eight people on suspicion of links with bomber Shahzad Tanweer. Authorities gave Pakistan a list of phone calls made from the house of one of bombers, but checks have drawn blanks so far, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, a team of British and Pakistani investigators visited two religious seminaries in Lahore and Raiwind, the Daily Times reported today.

10 militants, editor held

Islamabad: The Pakistan police have arrested 10 militants and the editor and staff of a weekly run by terror outfit Jaish-E-Mohammed in different cities in Punjab. The police raided the office of Zarb-I-Islam, the mouthpiece of Jaish in Karachi, and picked up its editor Nasir Ali Jahangir and his assistant Mohammad Saleem for allegedly spreading hate literature, Daily Times reported. —PTI