UK police make multiple arrests in anti-terror raids

British police arrested at least ten people in anti-terror raids in northwest England yesterday, a spokesman said, in what reports said was a major operation.

The raids were mounted in locations including Liverpool John Moore University and Manchester, according to BBC television, adding that they were part of a long-planned operation brought forward by a security gaffe.

"Ten men have been arrested as part of a counter terrorism operation across the northwest of England," said a Greater Manchester Police spokesman, adding: "A number of addresses... are currently being searched." The raids were carried out by officers from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit supported by Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Constabulary, said the spokesman.

Britain has been on high alerts since July 2005 suicide attacks in London killed 56, while car bomb attacks were foiled in London and Glasgow in June 2007.

Greater Manchester Police declined to give any more details, as reports suggested raids were ongoing, but said more information could be released within the next few hours.

The operation was ordered hours after Britain's top counter-terrorism policeman, Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, was caught on camera clutching sensitive documents as he arrived in Downing Street.

The documents, which included full details about planned operations, were legible on pictures taken by photographers and distributed around the world, the BBC said.

Shortly after the raids were announced Scotland Yard said that Quick apologised to his boss, Metropolitan Police chief Paul Stephenson, saying he "deeply regretted" leaving the document on show.