British police say eight suspected Islamic terrorists have been arrested and half a tonne of ammonium nitrate fertiliser has been seized in a series of raids in southeast England.
The eight men, who are being held under anti-terrorist legislation, are aged between 17 and 32 and are all British citizens.
Scotland Yard said the raids, involving five police forces, were carried out at around 6am this morning at premises in London and in the adjacent Home Counties.
The ammonium nitrate fertiliser was discovered at a self storage unit in west London. The same chemical material as that seized was used in the Bali bombings which killed 202 people in October 2002.
Britain has been on a high state of alert over terrorist activity since Christmas. After the 11 March bombings in Madrid, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, said an attack on London was 'inevitable'.
