British police arrested four people Wednesday in connection with the 2005 London transit bombings, including the wife of one of the suicide bombers.

Two men and a woman were picked up in West Yorkshire county, while another man was arrested near the city of Birmingham, said police.

Police searched residences in Birmingham and West Yorkshire on Wednesday after arresting four people in connection to the July 2005 London bombings.
(Rui Vieira/PA Wire/Associated Press)

Among those arrested is Hasina Patel, the wife of the suspected ringleader of the bombers, Mohammed Siddique Khan.

The four were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism related to the suicide bomb attacks that killed 52 subway and bus passengers in London on July 7, 2005.

Police say the suspects, all aged between 22 and 34, have been taken to London for questioning.

Also Wednesday, searches were underway at two flats in Birmingham, and at five addresses in West Yorkshire — two houses in Dewsbury, two houses in the Beeston neighbourhood of Leeds and one house in Batley, police said.

"We don't perceive any threat from the addresses that we're searching at this moment in time," said Chief Supt. Barry South.

In March, British police arrested three other people in connection with the bombings. Mohammed Shakil, Sadeer Saleem and Waheed Ali were later charged with conspiring with the four bombers.

Two of those men were arrested while trying to board a flight to Pakistan, while the third was picked up at a house in the northern city of Leeds.

Police criticized

The bombings were the deadliest attack on London since the Second World War.

Three of the suicide bombers — Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and Hasib Hussain, 18 — were British-born men of Pakistani descent who grew up in the ethnically mixed Leeds area, about 300 kilometres from London. The fourth, Germaine Lindsay, 19, was born in Jamaica and raised in Britain.

Two suspects were previously detained by British police in 2005. One was released without charge, and the other was charged with wasting police time.

Wednesday's arrests come days after police and intelligence services faced new criticism over their failure to prevent the bombings.

A London jury on April 30 found five British citizens guilty of planning another attack in the city using bombs made from fertilizer. Police knew the ringleader of that group had connections to the July 7 cell, but halted their probe into the group.

Opposition parties have called for a probe into the link, alleging the investigation into the fertilizer plot distracted police from the transit bombers.