Return to Transcripts main page

Your World Today

Major Anti-Terror Operation Unfolding in London; Fourth London Bomber Arrested in Rome

Aired July 29, 2005 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I heard was a very loud controlled -- what sounded like a very controlled explosion. The -- I put my head out the window to see what was going on, and the policeman said, "Get to the back of the building."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: High drama in west London as armed police conduct anti-terrorist swoops.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Two more suspected bombers in the botched July 21 attacks reportedly taken into custody.

It's 5:00 in the evening in London. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Hour by hour, minute by minute, we are continuing to follow developments in London with our reporters on the ground there. If you're just joining us, events moving very quickly in the investigation of last week's failed bombing attempts in London.

VERJEE: British authorities today raided several locations in London, looking for suspects in that failed attack. Police sources say three men were arrested at two of those locations. British media reports say the three men arrested include two of last week's suspects.

Another suspected bomber was taken into custody earlier this week. So, if these latest reports bear out, it would appear authorities have rounded up three of the four suspected failed bombers.

Today's police operations follow a number of other arrests taking place this week. Prior to today's dramatic events, British authorities already had at least 20 people in custody.

A second police operation took place in the Notting Hill area. There was an armed standoff right in front of what's known as Peabody Estates, a government-subsidized apartment building.

Matthew Chance joins us now live there with the latest.

Matthew, what's going on now?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, thanks very much.

And there's a great deal of confusion in the air around this part of west London because there have been two separate raids that have taken place this morning here in Britain, targeting suspected individuals linked with the July 21 attempts to bomb London. We understand that at least three people have been taken into custody here. All of them, according to police sources, linked with that July the 21st attempt to bomb trains in the underground system and a bus, of course, on the streets of London.

According to British media reports, three of the four attempted bombers are now in police custody. I have to stress, though, that's not yet been confirmed to us by Scotland Yard. We are awaiting word from them within the next few minutes. They should be giving us some kind of news briefing to tell us what they have been up to from their official point of view over the past several hours, over the course of this day.

What we know from eyewitnesses here in west London, two separate locations were raided. One here in the heart of Notting Hill, in the Portobello Road area, just a short distance from here.

Portobello Market right behind me. And it's right behind me here you can see police vans are still operating there. Police still scouring the area, treating this very much as a crime scene, trying to gather as much evidence as they can from this location, where we understand at least one, possibly two individuals were taken away by the police authorities here.

A short distance from here, about a mile away, in the Ladbrook Grove (ph) area, near the Peabody Estates, which are sort of low-rent areas of west London, another raid took place at approximately the same time, perhaps a little later. Armed police again evacuating the local residents. And after some kind of siege, some kind of standoff with at least one individual inside an apartment they surrounded with their armed officers and forensic teams, another individual was taken away in the back of a police van. A coat draped over his head.

Again, the identity of those individuals has not yet been confirmed to us by the police. We understand that elsewhere in London, at the Liverpool Street Station, in the east of London, another two people have been taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act here. They are understood both to be women.

We are expecting in the next few minutes some kind of word from Scotland Yard to tell us from their perspective what exactly they have been doing here. But this has been a fast-moving day of developments in this investigation -- Zain.

VERJEE: Are things now back to normal for the residents there? I mean, can they get into their homes?

CHANCE: Well, still, the police cordon in both of these areas in west London is still around those residential areas. You can see behind me, the streets are deserted. Police are still patrolling there.

They are not letting the people who were out at the time of the raids go back into their houses at the moment. Many people are still stuck inside their houses and not being permitted to come out either. That's true, also, at the other location, a short distance from here, where I've just come from.

So this has been immensely disruptive in these two areas of west London. They are both very different areas in terms of their -- you know, the kind of people that live here. They are both ethnically mixed, but this is a much more affluent area. The other area is much more, as I say, low rent. But despite that, people still very shocked that in their neighborhoods, in their homes, these people could have been holed up to sorts that wreak such destruction on Britain's transport system.

VERJEE: What was the explanation for the explosions that were heard?

CHANCE: Well, there have been no official explanations as yet, as I understand it. We've had different reports from eyewitnesses. Some people talking about relatively small explosions.

One possible explanation for that could be, perhaps, stun grenades, the kind of tactics used by police if they are raiding these apartments to shock the residents inside, to shock the targets inside while they move in to make their arrests. Another possibility, the police may have used small explosive devices to blow off the doors of apartment buildings. Sometimes that's a strategy, a tactic they use as well in order to gain easy entry into places where they want to make arrests.

There's a possibility, of course, that these were bombs as well. But that seems to be a very small possibility at this stage.

Also, eyewitnesses saying they have heard gunshots. Again, none of this has been yet confirmed to us by the police. Hopefully it will be in the coming minutes, the coming hours -- Zain.

VERJEE: Matthew Chance reporting from Notting Hill. Thanks, Matthew -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. As Matthew was pointing out there, we're waiting for Scotland Yard to give us a more complete picture of what's going on, but let's take a step back right now, take a look at the overall situation.

Go back all the way to July 7, 53 people killed in four separate attacks that were carried out on London's mass transit system. And then two weeks later, on the 21st of July, we had four suicide bombers, or would-be bombers, botching their attempts.

Their pictures were known to the public. Today it would appear that three out of the four have now been arrested. That has yet to be confirmed by the police. Two of those arrests coming this day in one of the operations that Matthew Chance was just describing right there. Now, as all of this is happening, it's very hard to piece together what exactly is going on, what the police really intend to do. One of the only ways that we can get that is from eyewitnesses on the scene. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just looked to see what was going on. On my left-hand side, I saw an ambulance being parked halfway up. And on the right, there was a large white van with several police officers, some in uniform, some out of uniform, and three men, quite tall men, wearing -- with black backpacks. They seemed to being put into the back of the van.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went outside. And there were people with gas masks on. And then there were about seven or eight police officers just kind of like a car parked behind my left. And then they had machine gun-type things. And they told me I had to get out of the area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a very quiet neighborhood. There's a lot of tourists. It's perceived as a very safe neighborhood as well. So we are a bit shocked that this is going on right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were saying something, like, you know, "You need to stop running." Whether it was physical running or running away, I don't know.

Anyway, he started, the police started to say...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This eyewitness statement from the area. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You need do come out into the street with your underwear on so that we know you haven't got any explosives on you and so that we know that you're not a risk to the police or the public."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you could hear this clearly?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I could hear -- because after I heard the third exchange, to do with the running, I then came to my front door. And my front door is like facing the back of his block where they were talking to him from.

So I could hear all of this. You couldn't see him because he was like at the back -- the windows were wide open, but he must have been at the back of the room. And, I mean, he did sound -- he did sound scared. If I was scared, you know, he must have been scared. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could you tell?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He sounded like he was like -- like, not crying, but you know when you're kind of going to -- like you're tearful. He did actually sound like he could have been crying or whatever.

The police then started to say to him, you know, like "You need to maintain contact with us. You need to come out on the street."

He stopped talking to them. And then, like a more aggressive police officer came on the loud speaker and started saying to him, you know, "You need to maintain contact."

He didn't maintain contact. And after a while, you started to see the S.W.A.T. teams arrive in, in the front, with the blue forensic vans and the people in their white overalls. And once -- once they came out, and after about 15 minutes of them not having contact with him, you heard like the gunshots go off.

Whether they were gunshots or, you know, like tear gas, I don't know. But after you heard that, and the S.W.A.T. team started to run around there, the forensic vans went around there as well. And then some of the suits went around there as well.

And when the forensic -- not the forensic, sorry, the S.W.A.T. team started to come back around and take off their stuff, I asked one of them if I could now come out. And they said to me yes, because the guy had obviously -- like he had been taken.

But his front door is on the other side. So I can't actually see his front door. I could only hear what was going on from the window because it's opposite mine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: An idea there that we're getting, piecing together a picture from different perspectives from some of the eyewitnesses in Notting Hill a little earlier today.

Well, one of the two suspected bombers identified in the July 21 attempted attacks is 27-year-old Muktar Said Ibrahim. Anderson Cooper takes a look back now at Ibrahim's life, and how it got to this point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A face lost in a crowd. How did this smiling young man become this alleged bomber. Not for the first time in his life, Muktar Ibrahim is on the run. When he was 12, Ibrahim's family ran from Eritrea, a country racked by civil war. They sought asylum in Britain and settled in this house in north London.

Ibrahim went to this London high school. He left at 16. His family says Ibrahim moved out. By 17, we know he joined a small gang of petty criminals, and was convicted of robbery. He served three years. Part of it here at Elsbury Jail north of London. One of the gang who was convicted with Ibrahim says the young man was radicalized.

In 1998, Ibrahim returned to London, where he met and moved in with Yasin Hassan Omar, the accused bomber now in custody. They shared a ninth floor apartment here in Curtis House, government subsidized housing. The British public paid $550 of their rent every month. Ibrahim and Omar left a bad impression on neighbors. Gary Chang lived across the hall.

GARY CHANG, NEIGHBOR: They did keep dodgy hours, and they were always in and out, in and out. And they would go in in threes or fours, groups of them.

COOPER: Margaret Philbin's sister lived downstairs and complained about the noise.

MARGARET PHILBIN, NEIGHBOR: Banging, opening the balcony door, shutting it, banging it. Walking very heavily across the floor.

COOPER: On July 21, Ibrahim, Omar and a third man allegedly strapped on bomb filled backpacks and entered the London Underground together. Ibrahim rode the train from the Stockwell Station for 20 minutes he got out and got on a double-decker bus in the city's financial district.

PETER CLARKE, ANTI-TERRORIST BRANCH: He was carrying a gray and black rucksack and sat on a seat towards the back of the bus with the bag next to him.

COOPER: Police say his bomb did not fully explode. He fled. When authorities released this photo of a then unknown attacker his family was shocked, and tipped off police.

CLARKE: We now believe the man on the bus who attempted to set off that bomb to be Muktar Said Ibrahim.

COOPER: It turns out that less than two years ago, Ibrahim applied for British citizenship. Despite his criminal record it was granted just last year. He pledged to uphold Britain's laws and values, an oath it took him less than a year to betray.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, a funeral is set to take place in Brazil for the man mistakenly shot and killed by anti-terror police in the London underground. The body of Jean Charles Menezes was flown home to Brazil this week. He's going to be buried in his home of Gonzaga.

British authorities have apologized for his death, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the case.

All right. We're expecting to hear from the Metropolitan Police in just a matter of minutes. They are going to be giving us an update on what the situation is on the ground.

You've heard the latest from some of the eyewitness accounts. These police operations are ongoing. It's said that with three more arrests -- or I believe we are up to five now, the total around the city arrests, there will be major developments you will hear.

VERJEE: There will be. And you can stay with CNN International for continuing coverage of those developments in London.

CLANCY: The raids, the arrests, much more coming up right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY>

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Welcome back. You're watching an hour of world news on CNN International.

Let's bring you up to date now on today's dramatic developments in London.

Authorities have stormed various locations in the British capital, looking for suspects in last week's failed transit bombings. Police sources say three men were arrested at two of those locations. British media reports say the three men arrested include two of last week's suspects.

Another suspected bomber was taken into custody earlier this week. If these latest reports bear out, it would appear authorities now have three of last week's four suspected failed bombers.

CLANCY: To get -- to appreciate some of what is going on here, let's talk to someone with the experience to look at a security situation like the London terror bombings and the ongoing police operations. For that, Dan Smith joins us. He's a senior intelligence analyst with the AKE Group.

Good to have you with us.

DAN SMITH, AKE GROUP: Thank you. Good evening.

CLANCY: Has anyone really -- has anyone in their lifetime witnessed this kind of a police operation there in Britain? And does this really match the urgency of what faced British police?

SMITH: Yes, you're absolutely right. This appears to be the largest scale operation conducted by British police. Not only Metropolitan Police, but it's a nationwide police effort. Also backed up, obviously, by our own security services, such as MI5, and also, MI6.

It's highly significant, the incidents that happened today. As we understand, three would-be suicide bombers have been arrested, and now they are going to actually be interrogated by police. And hopefully the fourth will be...

CLANCY: Dan, I'm going to have to interrupt you. We are going to go over to Scotland Yard and ITN's reporter there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been told, unconfirmed reports, that there was talk that he got on a bus from a Dover over to France, I think it was. And, I mean, you know, this was unconfirmed reports. But it certainly would tie in with the idea that the search had shifted to the continent. And lo and behold, we have one of them being picked up in Rome, according to Reuters, who are questioning the interior ministry in Italy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Indeed. And Dan, by process of elimination, given the fact that we know about the three other bomb suspects who are in custody, we are assuming that this man they are referring to is the Shepherd's Bush bomber?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right, yes. I think it must be the Shepherd's Bush bomber, because I'm told on pretty good authority that the oval (ph) bomber was found in Portobello Road, in a flat in Portobello Road, that Muktar Said Ibrahim and another man were arrested on the Peabody Estates in north Kensington.

So therefore, by a process of elimination, they've already got Yasin Hasan Omar, the Warren Street bomber. This one be the Shepherd's Bush bomber.

Very interesting to find out how he goat to Rome, if he did go on this coach from Dover to France and make his way down through France, or whether he flew direct to Rome. We'll have to find out.

But clearly, an absolutely fantastic result for the police. I think Londoners will breathe slightly easier in the rush hour as they head home this evening, knowing that all four of these men are now in custody and not posing a threat to London.

However, we must be cautious. The briefing all along has been, we don't think these men were acting in isolation. We know there are links to the July 7 cell, and there's every possibility that there are one or more cells still out there that may be linked to these guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dan, more information reaching us from Reuters in Italy. Italy now saying that the bomb suspect is a British citizen. No real surprises there given that the other three are also British citizens.

Extraordinary that, if this is true and he's being picked up in Italy, on the same day that two of the other suspects who were on the run have been picked up by police in west London. Whether or not that's coincidence, probably too early to say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, I can't believe it is coincidence. It must all be from the same intelligence.

I mean, I'm guessing, I'm speculating here. But the speculation has got to be, when they picked up Yasin Hassan Omar, they must have either got some sort of information from him, or found some information in his flat, or in some way connecting him that has made this whole thing unravel very quickly today.

And I think you are right, I think it would be an extraordinary coincidence if it was just that, that he was picked up within a few hours. It must be, really, I would think all either coming from the men themselves that were arrested today, and they've -- and they've confessed all to the police and said the other man is in Rome, or it's all come from one piece of intelligence. I would think that the latter is probably the case. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. A truly successful day for the police and the anti-terrorist squad officers if, indeed, those reports from Italy are true.

As you were saying, a note of caution. We, of course, don't yet know whether there is a fifth so-called bomber on the run, because we must remember about that fifth unexploded device that was dumped in Little Wormwood Scrubs. We don't know yet who that device belonged to as such.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I mean, there is this other arrest in -- on the Peabody Estate. Along with Muktar Said Ibrahim, there's another man that's been arrested.

Now, whether he turns out to be the fifth bomber, or whether he was simply someone who was in the flat with Muktar Ibrahim, or whether he's just someone completely innocent caught up in this, we don't know. And you are right, yes, it could be that if there is a fifth bomber, than he is possibly still at large.

And as I said, there is every possibility, almost likely, I would think, that there are other radical groups. There are possibly other cells out there that the authorities are unaware of that could be plotting further bombing outrages.

So I don't think anyone is going to think, well, this is it, it's all over, and life goes back to normal, because I think after July the 7th, nothing's going to quite...

CLANCY: All right. We've been listening there as our colleagues at ITN describing the latest developments there. Reuters, Associated Press all reporting right now that the Italian interior ministry is saying that they have arrested a British-born man. We are going to be back with more on this story right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: We want to go back to our top story now and update you on today's dramatic developments in London, where authorities stormed various locations in the British capital looking for suspects in last week's failed transit bombings. Police sources say three men were arrested at two of those locations. British media reports say the three men arrested include two of last week's suspects.

While from Rome, there are reports that a fourth suspect from last Thursday was apprehended there. Those reports coming in just moments ago. Another suspected bomber was taken into custody earlier this week.

Now, if these latest reports bear out, it would appear that authorities now have all of the four suspected failed bombers.

CLANCY: And that gives police something in hand that they are not used to seeing. They would have an entire terror cell, or what's believed to be an entire cell, that was meant to carry out a suicide attack. But when their bombs failed, they had to find escape routes. They apparently didn't do much planning for that.

Dan Smith joins us now from London. He's a senior intelligence analyst with the AKE Group.

What kind of an intelligence find is this, to be inside a group of people who wanted to be suicide bombers?

SMITH: It's a gold mine, Jim, to be honest with you. The information that they have to gather from these people will be quite significant. And what the police will now be trying to do is to ascertain who their handlers were, and also who is the likely bomb- maker behind this. These two are the crucial people from now on in, in the investigation.

CLANCY: You know, a lot of people say when you talk to the family, you talk to the friends, you talk to the community leaders there, as we did with not only these suspects, but with the July 7 suspects, a lot of times they point out and they say, these people were weak, that's why they were swayed. Does that work in the police's favor, that the individuals may indeed be weak, as they describe them?

SMITH: To a certain degree, it will help the police if these people were weak. But the police are skilled. They will be able to crack these people, even if they are particularly strong-willed.

I suspect, if they are -- rather, they are failed suicide bombers. The police will have a much easier chance. I mean, these early experiences would suggest that failed suicide bombers are actually quite willing to talk, whether to be to get their story out, or because they feel remorse and guilt for their potential actions.

CLANCY: Like you say, some of their handlers may become then known. But would you expect the higher-ups to become known, the process that might lead back to an Afghanistan, or some place else?

SMITH: That's more difficult to speculate on this stage. It would all actually depend on whether the cell or the terrorist group in question was particularly well organized.

Now, if they had any particular skill, they would be protecting each layer. It's feasible the cell in question here would only know their handler. They wouldn't even know the bomb maker.

So they might -- the police might not even be able to get from interrogations who the bomb maker was, only the handler. And once again, as I said, if the terror cell group was particularly skilled, the handler would then be isolated from other aspects of that particular organization, once again, to protect all aspects of it.

CLANCY: Dan, does it surprise you that they went on board those buses or on board those tube trains intending to commit suicide, and it would be presumed, then, they wouldn't have an escape plan, but one of the suspects now being picked up, if this is all confirmed, picked up in Rome, Italy? A surprise? SMITH: Absolutely. That's the most surprising aspect of today. It's probably not a surprise as the correspondents have mentioned on your show today, that there were arrests so soon after Wednesday's arrest of the first suicide bomber suspect. What is surprising is, is the news that's just breaking now is that a possible suspect has been picked up in Rome. To me, that would suggest that he managed to flee pretty quickly, possibly within the first 24 hours. He was on his way out of the U.K. simply after that stage, his images around the country, and Customs, and excise (ph) and border security were looking for him.

CLANCY: Dan Smith, senior intelligence analyst with the AKE Group, thank you so much for being with us.

All right, to the latest on the London police operation, ongoing right now. The arrests that have been made and announced.

We've got to take a short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We're receiving these reports where Italian authorities are saying that a London bomb suspect, a British citizen, the fourth suspected bomber in the failed July 21st attacks, has been apprehended in Rome. Let's go to Matthew Chance now. He joins us from Notting Hill in West London with more on that -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, thanks very much.

And these have been a dramatic set of a few hours over the past course of this day, with some incredible developments in this investigation. It seems from British media reports at the moment, as well as Italian officials now, that all four of the suspects in the July 21st attempted bombing of the London subway trains and the London bus are now in police custody. That has not yet been confirmed to us by British police. We are waiting, as we've been mentioning, a police press conference from Scotland Yard so they can tell us exactly who they've got in their custody at this stage.

But, there have been at least two big raids here in West London over the course of this day. In the Portobello Road Market area, from where I'm speaking to you now, police came early this morning, and evacuated residents from the local area and are still here now as a crime scene. They're gathering forensic evidence, having taken away at least one individual from this place who they now hold this their custody.

Another raid taking place a short distance from here, about a mile away, in the Latin Brook (ph) Grove area, much more of a low-rent neighborhood there. It's understood another suspect, at least one, again, has been taken into custody. So, here in the British custody, it seems, three of the four attempted bombers from July the 21st are now in police hands. And as we've been mentioning reporting, over the course of the last few minutes, it's been confirmed by Italian officials, the Italian interior ministry, in fact, that another individual, said to be a British national of Somali origin, is now in the hands of Italian authorities. He's believed to be the fourth bomber.

So that means that all four of those attempted bombers who attempted to attack London on July the 21st attacks are now in the hands of the authorities, both the British and the Italian authorities, a big boom for the security services, continuing their investigation now -- Zain.

VERJEE: Do we know how cooperative the Somali community there has been in this investigation?

CHANCE: Well, certainly it seems that the cell that was involved with the July the 21st attempts to bomb the trains and the bus were drawn from East African origin. They do seem to be from those kinds of ethnic groups. From Eritrea, Ethiopia, from Somalia and places like that. And obviously the police have been in close contact with the community leaders from those segments of society.

Police say they've got a great deal of cooperation from them, and perhaps it's that together with intelligence they gained from the early arrest of Yasin Hassan Omar earlier this week, intelligence that may have led them to take part in these raids, to undertake these raids today in West London. Two people were also arrested in Liverpool Street Train Station in East London today. Both of them said to be women. Both of them said to be being held under the prevention of terrorism act in this country. It's not -- it can't also be altogether a coincidence, but within a short space of time, since these raids in West London, we have seen this other arrest, according to Italian officials of the man who's believed to be the fourth bomber in those July the 21st attempted attacks -- Zain.

VERJEE: As you said earlier, Matthew, police looking now for forensic evidence, or searching for it. Give us a sense of what kind of evidence they're looking for.

CHANCE: Well, they're looking for any clues that could lead them to anybody else involved in these attacks, these attempted attacks. Anyone else involved in the cell. Remember, the people who carry out these bomb attacks, are merely the foot soldiers. There's a whole sort of plethora of people behind them. There are people who organize them, people who encourage them, as the police said, people who actually made the explosive devices. Police, it's not indicated yet, have the names, the identities of those people yet. So they're looking for clues, for fingerprints that would perhaps lead them in that direction.

There's also a good deal of speculation in this city at the moment about the possibility of a fifth bomber, just after the July the 21st attacks took place, or the attempts took place, people reported seeing another individual flee this scene. And certainly police found a backpack, a rucksack in the area of Wormwood Scrubs in West London, which has been linked, according to reports in the British media at least, to the possibility, it has raised the ideal that there were more than just four bombers. A fifth bomber could still be out there. That's why the police are here treating this as a crime scene, scouring the area for whatever forensic evidence they can to try and establish exactly who else, if anybody else, is involved in this London terror cell.

VERJEE: Matthew Chance in Notting Hill bringing us up to date. Thanks, Matthew -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, British authorities had scheduled a news conference for this hour. With all of the developments coming so fast and furious, it's unclear when that briefing is going to be held. We will bring it to you live when it happens.

Let's shift our focus now to the broader war against terror. According to the U.S. Central Command, terrorists are recruiting and fund-raising on the Internet, and that's not all, reports Barbara Starr, they're taking credit cards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Web sites, chat rooms, and blogs. Terrorists now have unprecedented access to these sophisticated Internet tools and are using them to communicate about their plans, to gather new recruits, to get more money.

BRIG. GEN. JOHN CUSTER, CENTRAL COMMAND INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: The Internet today is the single most important item in the radicalization of young Muslims.

STARR: In the wake of recent attacks, Brigadier General John Custer, Central Command's intelligence chief, warns of what he calls the terrorist class of 2005.

CUSTER: This class, becoming tactically efficient in Iraq, in Egypt, in any -- in England, will be the long war enemy, the opponent that we will face over the next 30 years.

STARR: No one is saying the London bombers used the Internet to plan their attacks, but here at Central Command's highly classified operations center, the focus is on what the military believes is the virtual world terrorists have turned into their Islamic empire, one that cannot be defeated with fire power.

CUSTER: What they have been able to do is build a virtual kalafi (ph), an entity that exerts state-like powers in the Internet, in the ethereal world.

STARR: Cyberspace terrorists don't have to protect leaders, have no capital city. But Custer warns their deadly reach is global.

CUSTER: We know of over 4,000 jihadist terrorist sites connected to chat rooms that you can move to and discuss tactics. You can discuss resources. You can actually talk to people who claim that they have perpetrated attacks. STARR: Custer says Osama bin Laden is now super empowered by the information revolution. He issues statements from hiding. He doesn't have to personally order attacks.

CUSTER: The franchises around the world can see what they need to do. You attack economic targets. You attack England in the middle of the summer, when the height of their tourist season.

STARR (on camera): To fund these types of attacks, experts say some of these extremist Web sites actually take credit cards. But in the cyberspace world of terrorism, it may no longer matter if it's Al Qaeda that orders the attack.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: We're going to take a short break here. And when we come back, we're going to take a look at some of the other developments around the world. We're going to tell you what's been happening in Iraq, in Niger, as well as some developments in the United States.

CLANCY: You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Welcome back. You are watching YOUR WORLD TODAY, an hour of world news here on CNN International.

We want to update you first on today's dramatic developments in London. Authorities stormed various locations in the British capitol, looking for suspects in last week's failed transit bombings. Police also say three men were arrested at two of those locations. British media reports the three men arrested include two of last week's suspects, while a fourth suspect from last Thursday was apprehended in Rome. That news coming from Rome just minutes ago. Another suspected bomber was taken into custody earlier this week.

CLANCY: Fresh violence Friday has rocked a northern Iraqi town near the city of Mosul. Police say at least 26 people were killed in a suicide attack on an army recruitment center.

Meantime, the special Iraqi tribunal trying Saddam Hussein questioned him Thursday about the suppression of Kurdish and Shia Muslim uprisings, which followed the 1991 Gulf War. The tribunal released photos of Saddam on Friday. The former Iraqi dictator is formally charged with killing Shia Muslims in Dujail in 1982. The judge in that case says a trial date will soon be set.

When Saddam first came to that city in July of 1982, he was met with a hail of gunfire. The Shia Muslims who lived in and dominated that town had risen up against his regime, but his henchmen returned, and they exacted revenge not on a few, but thousands of people who lived there. Aneesh Raman gives us a look at the town and the growing legends that are likely to change the small place forever. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is on this road where Saddam Hussein's past and present collide. In a matter of months, he is set to face trial for what he did here in the small town of Dujail and the lives he destroyed among these remaining residents.

In 1982, they were just kids and Saddam maintained a steel grip of Iraq, touring villages that were forced to show allegiance. On July 8th, it was Dujail's turn, a Shiite-dominated village in the midst of the Sunni triangle, resentment here simmering underneath.

SHEIKH IBRAHIM, DUJAIL RESIDENT (through translator): An operation was planned by more than 15 members of our mujahideen. We had been meeting for months before.

RAMAN: Sheikh Ibrahim, at the time only 15, was part of a group of young men in Dujail committed to fighting Saddam's oppression, waiting for the right moment. It came here that July morning. Saddam paid a visit, an ambush was hastily planned. On this road, six men sought to kill their tyrant. Mohammed Ali drove one of the shooters, Hassan (ph), to the scene.

MOHAMMED ALI, DUJAIL RESIDENT (through translator): Hassan came to me. I took him on my motorcycle. I remember he was carrying two pistols. We drove through orchards looking for other men, but we only saw two. Hassan shot with his pistol to give the group a sign to start shooting at Saddam.

When the convoy reached the orchards, three gunmen started shooting at his convoy from the left side. Saddam's guards started shooting back.

RAMAN: The dictator narrowly escaped, and within hours, hell descended upon Dujail. Thousands of innocent villagers, like Ali, who was 14 at the time, were thrown in jail. Tortured, many others executed. And Dujail itself was destroyed. The men show us an area that once blossomed with orchards, where those gunmen hid that fateful day. Saddam sent in bulldozers to clear the ground, wiping out homes in the process, and sending a message to anyone who dared pose a challenge to his regime.

These men, like Ali, are lucky. Sent to prison for four year, but still alive. Tortured, though, by the memory. Ali never found out what happened to his brothers, also taken into custody, until after the war, when he discovered evidence confirming the worst.

ALI HAIDARY, DUJAIL RESIDENT (through translator): I found a document signed by Saddam in 1985 to execute some of the Dujail people with us in the prison. One-hundred and forty-nine people, including seven of my brothers. Thirty-four of my relatives and 118 people of my town. They are now forgotten. To God they have returned.

RAMAN: In sheer numbers, Dujail is not nearly the worst of Saddam's atrocities, but that's of no consequence to the villages. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Saddam should be executed immediately for this, because he killed and executed too many.

RAMAN: And now, justice may finally come to Dujail, perhaps 23 years too late, but sooner than anyone here could have imagined.

Aneesh Raman CNN, Dujail, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: In the United States meantime, a top Republican senator breaking ranks with President George W. Bush in the contentious debate over stem cell research.

Let's get more from U.S. congressional correspondent Ed Henry on Capitol Hill -- Ed?

ED HENRY, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Jim. That's right, a dramatic reversal from the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who's normally one of President Bush's closest allies on Capitol Hill on just about his entire agenda. But instead, today, he's coming out against the White House policy on stem cell research.

You could see that Mr. Frist and the president were at the White House at a separate event today. But after that event, the president beckoned Senator Frist over and brought him over to the White House for further discussion. That's because the president has threatened to veto legislation that would increase federal funding here in the United States for embryonic stem cell research.

The president has allied himself with conservative leader who say that this is basically the destruction of human life and is unacceptable, but Senator Frist was today speaking on the Senate floor as a heart surgeon, and said as a doctor, he has come down on the side believing that the true pro-life position is to support more stem-cell research that might lead to cures for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and juvenile diabetes.

Here's Senator Frist:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FIRST, U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: So when I was a heart and transplant surgeon removed that human heart from someone who is brain dead, and I place it in the chest of someone who's heart has failed them, in order to give them new life, I do so within an ethical construct that honors dignity and respect for the individual, of the donor and the recipient, like transplantation. If we can answer the moral questions, and moral-and-ethical questions about stem cell research, I believe we will have the opportunity to save many lives and make countless others' lives more fulfilling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: This is a debate that is scientific, but it's also personal and political. It was interesting that one of the senators in the chamber watching the speech closely, and then immediately stood up to congratulate Senator Frist was Senator Arlen Specter, who's battling cancer right now. He is the sponsor of this stem cell research legislation. He believes it could help cure cancer as well, perhaps save Senator Specter's life, as well as the lives of millions of others.

But it's also a political development as well that will have major impact on the 2008 presidential race. Senator Frist widely expected to be a candidate. Conservative leaders already coming out saying that this is going to destroy Senator Frist's chances of being a candidate from the right in 2008, but there are others saying this will actually help Senator Frist with moderate swing voters. Since Nancy Reagan, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put in California have come out for increased stem cell research funding. But I can tell you that Senator Frist's office is saying, they're not looking at the politics at all, that Senator Frist basically came down as a doctor and felt this was the right thing to do -- Jim.

CLANCY: Ed Henry, reporting to us there live from Capitol Hill on the debate over stem cell research, and a break with the president on that. There's going to be a lot of debate on that issue.

VERJEE: We're going to take a short break. We'll give you the latest developments. A dramatic day in London. We'll do that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Updating you now on today's developments in London. Authorities stormed various locations in the British capital looking for suspects in last week's failed transit bombings. Police sources say three men were arrested at two of those locations. British media reports say the three men arrested include two of last week's suspects. While a fourth suspect from last Thursday was apprehended in Rome. That news came from Rome just a few minutes ago. Another suspected bomber was taken into custody earlier this week.

CLANCY: That is our report up to the minute. You've been watching YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. We're going to continue our coverage of developments out of both of London and Rome. So stay with CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com