Police file charges in bombings

LONDON – British police filed their first charges in the London terrorism investigations Wednesday, accusing a 23-year-old man of withholding information about the July 21 transit bombers.

Police say that in the week after the attack, Ismael Abdurahman, of southeast London, had information he knew might help police capture suspects involved in “the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.”

He was charged under antiterrorism legislation and is to attend a hearing in London today.

The charges could mark an important step forward for police seeking to build cases against the 17 people in custody in connection with the July 21 assault, in which bombs planted on three subways and a bus failed to fully detonate.

Also Wednesday, officials said Zambia will deport to Britain an accused al-Qaida operative suspected of having links to the bombers who struck London on July 7 and attempting to start a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa told a news conference in the capital, Lusaka, that after discussions with British and U.S. officials, his nation had agreed to hand Haroon Rashid Aswat over to British authorities. Zambian authorities said that Aswat, 30, a British citizen of Indian descent, is believed to have entered the African country July 6.