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UK police release another suspect in failed bomb attacks

British police have released another man who was detained in connection with the failed July 21 bomb attacks on London's transit system.

London's Metropolitan Police said yesterday that officers were continuing to question 16 suspects. Of the 37 people detained over the attempt to set off bombs on three subway trains and a double-decker bus, 21 are no longer being held in connection with the investigation.

The man police released on Tuesday was let go without charge.

British authorities say those still in custody include three of the failed bombers. They are trying to extradite the fourth suspected attacker, Hamdi Issac, from Italy, but his lawyer said Italian investigations could delay any extradition to Britain.

Police say all four bombers who carried out the first series of attacks on July 7 in London died in the blasts that killed 52 other people on three subway trains and a bus. Officers are not holding any suspects in connection with those bombings.

Britons were stunned to learn that three of the alleged July 7 suicide attackers were young Pakistani Britons; the third moved from Jamaica as a child. Most of the men alleged to have carried out failed attacks two weeks later, taking no lives, were immigrants from East Africa.

The apparent willingness of men born and raised in Britain to turn to militancy has prompted soul-searching in a nation proud of its diversity and tolerance.

There are some 1.8 million Muslims in Britain and the overwhelming majority are moderate in their views.

Nevertheless, police figures released on Tuesday showed that crimes motivated by religious hatred had increased by nearly 600 percent since the July 7 bombings.

Many Muslims fear officers are using racial profiling in their search for terror suspects. The Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted Ian Johnston, chief constable of the British Transport Police, as suggesting race would be a factor in police searches. "We should not waste time searching old white ladies," he reportedly said.
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