LONDON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- British security officials arrested six men and one woman in a sweeping counter-terrorism raid to protect the public, a police official said Monday.
A spokeswoman for local police said six men were arrested late Sunday in a broad counter-terrorism operation. A 22-year-old woman was arrested Monday in connection to a 2009 terrorism law for failing to disclose key information to authorities, The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports.
The report adds the men were arrested on suspicion of plotting to carry out, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism in the United Kingdom.
The arrests follow testimony before British lawmakers from U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. King had warned that "homegrown radicalization is part of al-Qaida's strategy to continue attacking the United States and its allies."
Four homegrown Islamic radicals set off their explosive devices on London subway trains and a double-decker bus in July 2005, killing 52 people and leaving more than 700 injured.
British Home Secretary Theresa May in July statements said London would address the ideological aspects of domestic, homegrown threats.
Members of the European Parliament in a separate July resolution on counter-terrorism policy called for investments in anti-racism and anti-discrimination polices. This was to prevent radicalization and recruitment of would-be terrorists, which the resolution identified as "the most significant and continuous long-term threat."
