Parsons Green attack: Seventh person arrested in Cardiff over London Tube bombing

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

A man has been arrested in Cardiff in connection with the Parsons Green attack.

The 20-year-old suspect was detained in a dawn raid under the Terrorism Act and taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the unidentified man had been arrested at around 6am and transported to a police station in south London.

“The arrests were carried out by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, supported by colleagues from the Welsh Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU) and South Wales Police,” he added.

“Officers are also carrying out a search at an address in Cardiff.”

He is the seventh person to be arrested in relation to the attempted bombing on 15 September.

Ahmed Hassan, an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee, has been charged with attempted murder and explosives offences over the attack.

He appeared in court on Friday and was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 13 October.

Hassan, who lived with his foster parents in Sunbury-on-Thames, was arrested in Dover port the day after 30 people were injured by a “fireball” that ripped through a packed District Line train during rush hour.

Two other men, aged 25 and 30, remain in custody after being arrested during raids by counter-terror police in Newport last week.

Three of those detained have been released without charge, including a 17-year-old boy who was arrested in Thornton Heath on Thursday.

Yahyah Farroukh, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee who had been fostered by the same couple as Hassan, was also freed with no further action alongside a 48-year-old man arrested in Newport.

Searches continue one Hassan’s former home in Surrey and one address in Cardiff, police said, with others in Surrey, Hounslow and Newport completed.

One of the men arrested has been identified as an Iraqi Kurd known locally as Bilal, with friends saying they “can't believe” he would be involved in the atrocity.

The 25-year-old painter and decorator used a Facebook account with the profile name Mahdi Rahimi, locals and friends confirmed.

One said the suspect, an Iranian Kurd, arrived in Newport in about 2009.

“He is a very good guy, I can't believe this,” one man said. “He is Kurdish, he describes terrorists like Isis as stupid.

“He is hard-working and helpful. He has painted a lot of the shops and houses round here.

“He used to walk past every day on his way to the mosque, he would come and shake my hand and say hello.”

The man said Bilal wanted to study at university but had not been able to as he was waiting for permanent residency in the UK, so was instead enrolled at a local college.

“Kurdish people know what Isis are doing, they are fighting them.”

A woman described Bilal as a “nice guy” who had condemned terrorism in discussions with her husband.

Police said magistrates granted them a warrant allowing the further detention of the 25-year-old and 30-year-old men until Tuesday.

Additional reporting by PA