Two More Arrests In London Probe

Bomb Suspect Charged In Rome; Tight Security On London Subways

(CBS/AP)  Police investigating failed July 21 bomb attacks in London said Monday they had arrested two men during raids in the city, as authorities tried to determine whether there were links between that attack and the transit bombings three weeks earlier.

A total of 23 people have been arrested in connection with the failed bombing attempt, including the four main bombing suspects in police custody in London and Rome.

The men in the arrests announced Monday have been detained "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said. They were arrested after searches of three properties in the Stockwell and Clapham areas of south London.

"The searches are in connection with the ongoing investigations into the incidents on the London transport network on the 21st of July," the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the London bombing suspect traced to Rome last week by his cell phone calls was charged Monday under Italy's anti-terrorism laws, while British police continued holding three other men suspected in the attempted attacks on London's transport network.

There was stepped-up security on London subways and buses with the start of the workweek, with police prepared to stop and search people considered most likely to be a threat, reports CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth. The chief of Britain's transport police was blunt about what that means. "We shouldn't waste time searching old white ladies," he said.

In Rome, Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac, sought in connection with a failed July 21 attack at the Shepherd's Bush subway station, was charged by a judge with association with the aim of international terrorism and with possessing false documents, said Antonietta Sonnessa, his lawyer.

Sonnessa said her client acknowledges his involvement in the attack but claims the planted bombs were intended not to kill anyone but only to draw attention. Italian news reports had said the bombers were angry about the Iraq war.

Sonnessa said nothing had been decided Monday concerning Britain's extradition request for Issac. It was not clear if the Italian charges would complicate extradition proceedings; Italian police said Monday that extradition would not take long.

Asked if her client was cooperating with investigators, Sonnessa said: "I wouldn't say we're talking about collaboration; he gave his statements." She said she would appeal the judge's decision to charge her client.

Police, meanwhile, described in detail how they monitored Issac's cell phone calls before arresting him and how he had falsified his name and nationality when applying for asylum in Britain.

The suspect, born in Ethiopia as Hamdi Issac, changed his name to Osman Hussain and claimed he was from Somalia when he applied for political asylum, Carlo De Stefano, head of Italy's anti-terror police, said in the first police briefing since his arrest last Friday.

"He falsely declared he was a Somali citizen to obtain the status of political refugee and economic assistance more easily," he said.

Italian police began investigating when they were informed by their British counterparts on Tuesday that one of the suspects in the July 21 attempted bombings had fled Britain and had in the past made calls to Italian telephones, De Stefano said.

British police told Italian investigators that the suspect made a phone call to Saudi Arabia believed to be aimed at finding out the number for one of the suspect's brothers in Rome, said De Stefano.

Police homed in on Issac's cell phone, locating him in Rome on Thursday after discovering that he had replaced the phone's British removable "SIM" card — which stores an individual's phone number and other account data — with an Italian one.

On Friday, the day of the arrest, police recorded conversations in which Issac talked in Ethiopian dialect used in a border region between Eritrea and Somalia, confirming his identity after sending the recordings to London to be checked, De Stefano said.