UK 'blocked bomb plotter' arrest

A month before the London bombings, British authorities denied a request by their counterparts in the United States to apprehend a man now believed to have ties to the July 7 bombers, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, of Indian heritage, is currently in custody in Zambia, U.S. and Zambian officials told CNN.

U.S. authorities wanted to capture Aswat, who was then in South Africa, and question him about a 1999 plot to establish a "jihad training camp" in Bly, Oregon.

According to the sources, U.S. officials had Aswat under surveillance in South Africa weeks before the July 7 attacks that killed 52 commuters and the four bombers.

U.S. authorities had asked Britain if they could take Aswat into custody but they refused because he was a UK citizen, the sources said. Later British authorities said they suspected Aswat lent support to the July 7 bombers. (Full story)

Meanwhile in Britain Thursday -- one week after failed attacks on London's transport network -- a nationwide manhunt focused on three of the suspected terrorists.

But as more arrests were announced, taking the number of those in custody in the investigation to 20, including one of the alleged bombers, the country's top police official said more attacks were possible if the suspects in the July 21 attempted bombings remained at large.

Early Thursday, nine men were arrested in the Tooting area of south London. They are not among the suspected bombers sought by police in the attacks on three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, authorities said.

Six of the men were arrested at one address, and three at another, according to Metropolitan Police. All nine were taken to a central London police station, and searches at the addresses were ongoing.

"It does remain possible that those at large will strike again," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said Thursday.

"It does also remain possible that there are other cells who are capable and intent on striking again."

As part of its investigation into the attempted bombings, police have taken 1,800 witness statements, have received 5,000 calls to the terrorist tip line, and are examining 15,000 closed circuit television tapes.

The British government also announced Thursday that the Brazilian man mistakenly shot and killed by police at a London Underground station last week had a false stamp on his passport and had been in Britain for two years with an expired visa.