Face of terror suspect

This is the face of one of the Islamic bomb suspects, an 18-year-old who once wanted to play cricket for England.

Omar Khayam, from Crawley, was one of eight men seized by Anti-Terrorist branch officers and MI5 as police foiled a massive bomb plot. His background was revealed today as details emerged of a web of terrorism spanning Britain, Spain and Pakistan.

The Spanish interior minister, Angel Acebes, said one of those being held in London may have links with the Madrid outrage which killed 190 people. In a separate development a Spanish judge said organisers of the 11 March massacre in Madrid may have fled to Britain following the carnage.

Today in London investigators are probing a network of links involving the suspect bombers which extends as far as Pakistan.

Khayam is believed to have attended a training camp for Islamic "mujahideen" there to fight in the disputed territory of Kashmir. But now he has re-emerged as a main suspect in a plot police believe was aimed at "soft" targets such as nightclubs or pubs in London and shopping centres such as Bluewater or Brent Cross.

The investigation is also focusing on a series of possible links to radical mosques in Crawley, Brixton and Luton and extremist groups such as al-Muhajiroun led by Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed.

A foreign security service is believed to have played a key role in the operation codenamed Crevice. Police swooped after MI5 intercepted a message to move the fertiliser from where it was being stored in west London. The call prompted raids on an unprecedented-scale at 24 addresses in London and the South-East.

Police found more than half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertiliser - the same explosive ingredient used in terror attacks in Bali, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Africa and the US.

The men, aged 17 to 32, are held on suspicion of "being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism". All but one of the eight arrested are of Pakistani origin. One of the men is of Algerian descent.