LONDON: British police on Saturday arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of being involved in last week’s bombing of a London Underground train, and did not rule out the possibility that other suspects are on the loose.
The man, who has not been named, was arrested in the ferry departure area of the port of Dover on suspicion of committing, preparing or instigating an act of terrorism after Friday’s attack in which 30 people were injured at Parsons Green station, AFP reported.
“We’re keeping an open mind around whether more than one person is responsible for the attack,” Neil Basu of London’s Metropolitan Police told reporters.
Dover’s ferry terminal was evacuated, as was a large area around a house in Sunbury, just outside London, as police conducted a search.
Residents of Sunbury quoted in British media said the owners of the house were elderly foster parents.
“I was in my house with my children and there was a knock at the door from the police,” local resident Mojgan Jamali told the Press Association. “They told me to leave. They said: ‘You have one minute to get out of the house and get away’.”
Witnesses described scenes of chaos after an improvised explosive device was detonated on a busy commuter train as it pulled into Parsons Green Station in west London during rush hour.
At least 30 people were wounded but none killed, in what was Britain’s fifth terror attack in six months.
The blast prompted Britain to raise its national threat level from “severe” to “critical,” meaning an attack is expected imminently.
Prime Minister Theresa May said troops would be deployed to key locations, with armed police seen patroling key locations on Saturday.
Erroll G. Southers, an expert in transportation security and counterterrorism and the author of “Homegrown Violent Extremism,” told Arab News that the possibility that more than one person was involved raises questions over how organized the plot was.
“What concerns me now we know that they are looking for more than one person is — is there any element of command and control in this?,” he said.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack late on Friday — but Southers said that has to be viewed in light of the terror group’s sophisticated “marketing” efforts.
“Why not claim an attack like this? It shows your reach outside of the span of the region you allegedly occupy. It shows some ingenuity in terms of the person that put this device together. They can say ‘we’ve got operatives in the UK that are engaging,’ and that works for them,” Southers said.
“(Daesh) are losing ground in Syria and Iraq … so by claiming an attack in London it works for them.”
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London attack: Teen arrested, more suspects could be at large
London attack: Teen arrested, more suspects could be at large
Pakistan is latest Asian country to step up checks for deadly Nipah virus
- Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia have also tightened screening
- Nipah has high mortality rate but not easily transmitted; there is also no vaccine for it
LAHORE/HANOI: Authorities in Pakistan have ordered enhanced screening of people entering the country for signs of infections of the deadly Nipah virus after India confirmed two cases, adding to the number of Asian countries stepping up controls.
Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have also tightened screening at airports.
The Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a high mortality rate. There is also no vaccine. But transmission from person to person is not easy and typically requires prolonged contact with an infected individual.
“It has become imperative to strengthen preventative and surveillance measures at Pakistan’s borders,” the Border Health Services department said in a statement.
“All travelers shall undergo thermal screening and clinical assessment at the Point of Entry,” which includes seaports, land borders and airports, the department added.
The agency said travelers would need to provide transit history for the preceding 21-day period to check whether they had been through “Nipah-affected or high-risk regions.”
There are no direct flights between Pakistan and India and travel between the two countries is extremely limited, particularly since their worst fighting in decades in May last year.
In Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital’s health department on Wednesday also ordered the screening of incoming passengers at Noi Bai airport, particularly those arriving from India and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the two health workers were confirmed to have the virus in late December.
Passengers will be checked with body temperature scanners to detect suspected cases. “This allows for timely isolation, epidemiological investigation,” the department said in a statement.
That follows measures by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city, who said they had tightened health controls at international border crossings.
India’s health ministry said this week that authorities have identified and traced 196 contacts linked to the two cases with none showing symptoms and all testing negative for the virus.
Nipah is a rare viral infection that spreads largely from infected animals, mainly fruit bats, to humans. It can be asymptomatic but it is often very dangerous, with a case fatality rate of 40 percent to 75 percent, depending on the local health care system’s capacity for detection and management, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus was first identified just over 25 years ago during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, although scientists believe it has circulated in flying foxes, or fruit bats, for thousands of years.
The WHO classifies Nipah as a priority pathogen. India regularly reports sporadic infections, particularly in the southern state of Kerala, regarded as one of the world’s highest-risk regions for Nipah.
As of December 2025, there have been 750 confirmed Nipah infections globally, with 415 deaths, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is funding a vaccine trial to help stop Nipah.
Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have also tightened screening at airports.
The Nipah virus can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a high mortality rate. There is also no vaccine. But transmission from person to person is not easy and typically requires prolonged contact with an infected individual.
“It has become imperative to strengthen preventative and surveillance measures at Pakistan’s borders,” the Border Health Services department said in a statement.
“All travelers shall undergo thermal screening and clinical assessment at the Point of Entry,” which includes seaports, land borders and airports, the department added.
The agency said travelers would need to provide transit history for the preceding 21-day period to check whether they had been through “Nipah-affected or high-risk regions.”
There are no direct flights between Pakistan and India and travel between the two countries is extremely limited, particularly since their worst fighting in decades in May last year.
In Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital’s health department on Wednesday also ordered the screening of incoming passengers at Noi Bai airport, particularly those arriving from India and the eastern state of West Bengal, where the two health workers were confirmed to have the virus in late December.
Passengers will be checked with body temperature scanners to detect suspected cases. “This allows for timely isolation, epidemiological investigation,” the department said in a statement.
That follows measures by authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city, who said they had tightened health controls at international border crossings.
India’s health ministry said this week that authorities have identified and traced 196 contacts linked to the two cases with none showing symptoms and all testing negative for the virus.
Nipah is a rare viral infection that spreads largely from infected animals, mainly fruit bats, to humans. It can be asymptomatic but it is often very dangerous, with a case fatality rate of 40 percent to 75 percent, depending on the local health care system’s capacity for detection and management, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus was first identified just over 25 years ago during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore, although scientists believe it has circulated in flying foxes, or fruit bats, for thousands of years.
The WHO classifies Nipah as a priority pathogen. India regularly reports sporadic infections, particularly in the southern state of Kerala, regarded as one of the world’s highest-risk regions for Nipah.
As of December 2025, there have been 750 confirmed Nipah infections globally, with 415 deaths, according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is funding a vaccine trial to help stop Nipah.
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