The price of fighting terror
Updated on 23 July 2005
Police shot the man on a tube at Stockwell station
This despite the fact that yesterday the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair clearly stated that the shooting was "directly linked" to anti-terror operations.
The man was shot after a chase through Stockwell tube station and was gunned down as he jumped onto a train. The independent police complaints commission has launched an investigation.
Detectives are now questioning a second man in connection with the attempted attacks while police are fielding hundreds of calls from the public following the release of images of the suspects.
Victoria Macdonald reports.
It was at five o'clock this evening that Scotland Yard issued a statement saying that they now believe they know the identity of the man shot dead yesterday morning at Stockwell tube.
The statement said that Scotland Yard was now satisfied that he was not connected with the terror incidents on Thursday.
The Metropolitan Police said for somebody to lose their life in such circumstances was a "tragedy" and one that it regrets.
It said: "The man emerged from a house in Tulse Hill that was itself under observation because it was linked to the investigation on Thursday 21st July.
"He was then followed by surveillance officers to the underground station.
"His clothing and behaviour added to their suspicions."
The shooting will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police professional standards directorate and the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
With a debate already raging over what appears to be a shoot-to -kill policy in operation by the police and disquiet expressed among some Muslim organisations over the events on Friday, there will be fears of a backlash.
Although with the biggest manhunt in British history still underway few will want to be seen to be openly criticising the police.
Professor Andrew Silke, a terrorism expert from the University of East London said: "Suicide bombers are different. Certainly the police believed he was a suicide bomber and he was on his way to a mission and he was dangerous.
"And in those circumstances when they refuse to stop, like when this man was attempting to enter the tube, the police reacted in a way that was consistent with what they would regard as a deadly and determined attacker."
The closest the police have come to discussing any policy was this statement from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
"In terms of firearms tactics, police officers will shoot to immediately disable and remove the threat to their lives or those of other members of the public. A challenge must be issued in order to direct any suspect to conform with police requirements."
"One of the potential terrorist threats - which has manifested itself for many years around the world - is that of a suicide attack by a person or persons determined to die."
"... As part of its ongoing work, ACPO Terrorism Committee has a special project group, which has developed operational tactics to help police respond swiftly and effectively to such threats."
On Friday afternoon at 4.30pm, a man was arrested at a block of flats in Stockwell - it is not known if these were the same flats that were under surveillance.
At midnight a second man was arrested. They are now both being held at Paddington Green police station under anti-terrorism laws.
Neighbours have said the men were east African and it is thought that a woman, a baby and a child were also escorted from the flat. This morning police towed away a white car for forensic testing. But Scotland Yard has so far refused to comment.
Meanwhile, the police have received more than 500 calls from the public and a number of emails after releasing the CCTV footage of he four terror suspects involved in Thursday's failed bomb attacks on the London underground and a bus in the east end.
The police have warned that these men are dangerous and should not be approached.
