7/7 bomber's widow held by police

Hasina Patel, 29, her brother Arshad and two other men were detained under the Terrorism Act over suspected connections to the 2005 attacks in which 52 people died.

Unarmed police swooped just after 7am on addresses across West Yorkshire and the West Midlands. Properties in Dewsbury, Batley, Beeston in south Leeds, and Birmingham were cordoned off for forensic investigation.

The raids were led by the Metropolitan Police counter terrorism unit, with support from West Midlands and West Yorkshire Police.

Two men, aged 30 and 34, were arrested in Batley and Leeds, while the third man, aged 22, was arrested at 7.25am in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham.

They were Arshad Patel, Khalid Khaliq - who is thought to have connections with the Islamic bookshop Iqra in Beeston - and Imran Motala.

All four, held on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism, were taken to high security police station Paddington Green in central London.

London was thrown into chaos two years ago when four suicide bombers exploded devices in three packed rush hour London Underground Tube trains and a crowded bus. The perpetrators - ringleader Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain - all died.

Last month, three men - Mohammed Shakil, 30, Sadeer Saleem, 26, and Waheed Ali, 23, from Beeston, Leeds - became the first people to appear in court charged with conspiring with the four.

Scotland Yard has always insisted the "painstaking" investigation into the bombings is far from over, with leads being followed up in the UK and abroad. One of the properties being searched in Beeston was close to the family home of bomber Tanweer.