Two men in custody after rush hour Underground attack sees 29 people injured in train explosion
A second man has been arrested in relation to the London Underground attack at Parsons Green station which took place on Friday during the morning rush hour.
Friday morning's explosion in the crowded subway car left 29 people injured. This is the fifth terror attack carried out in Britain in 2017 and at least seven significant plots have been foiled.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that one Irish person was injured during the attack. The person was offered consular assistance but refused the offer as it was believed the injury was minor.
The Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command confirmed that a 21-year-old man was arrested at a fried chicken restaurant in Hounslow, a borough to the south west of London, on Saturday at 11.50pm. He was taken to a South London police station and remains in custody. His home in Stanwell, Surrey, was searched by police on Sunday.
Police arrested an 18-year-old man in the departure area of Dover ferry port, in Kent, in the south east of England, at about 7.50am, on Saturday morning. Dover is one of the busiest ferry hubs in Europe and serves as a commercial gateway to the French coast, including Calais and Dunkirk.
A tourist Daniel Vaselicu (31) witnessed the arrest. He said the suspect was "young and light-skinned…He was white, not Arabic, but he wasn't English.”
He added, "He was looking normal, not fighting or worried or concerned."
#ParsonsGreen terror attack: 18-year-old man has been arrested by Kent police in port area of Dover pic.twitter.com/QET1RgWkyh
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 16, 2017
Sky News reports that both suspects are Syrian and are being held under the Terrorism Act.
On Saturday, a police raid was carried out on the home of an elderly couple who previously received MBE for service to children and families. The home of Penelope (71) and Ronald (88) Jones, in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, was searched. The couple have, over 40 years taken in up to 300 children, including eight refugees.
A friend of the couple, Alison Griffiths, said the couple were staying with friends for, at least, the next five days following the raid. She also said the couple had homed an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old refugee recently.
The police’s investigation has focused on CCTV. The authorities are combing through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train.
On Sunday afternoon, Britain’s terror threat level was lowered from its highest point of 'critical' to 'severe,' meaning an attack is now "highly likely", rather than "imminent". Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), which sets the terror threat level, had decided "sufficient progress has been made" to lower it.
Dubliner Rory Rigney (37) witnessed the attack on Friday morning. He told the Guardian, “There was bang, it wasn’t massively loud. Then a scream. I looked down the corridor and there was a big flash of light coming down.
“My immediate reaction was just to jump. So, the doors were still open, so I jumped out. I tried to get as far away as possible, kind of got on the ground and covered myself.
“Looked back and there were so many people trying to get out they were falling on top of each other so there was a real crush at the door,” he added.
“People just panicking, getting away, and there was a lot of screaming. For the next 30 seconds to a minute, people were on the ground. They didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of fear.
“But then a minute or so passed, and people were wondering just what actually happened.”
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