London: London police said on Friday anti-terrorism officers had arrested five men suspected of planning an attack, the arrests coming while Pope Benedict was in London during a state visit to Britain.
Officers were searching a business in central London and homes in the north and east of the city but had not uncovered any dangerous materials.
The five men, aged between 26 and 50, who were not named, were arrested around 5:45 a.m. (0445 GMT), police said in a statement.
The police would not confirm or deny the accuracy of media reports connecting the arrests to the Pope's visit.
"Following today's arrests the policing arrangements for the Papal visit were reviewed and we are satisfied that our current policing plan remains appropriate," they said.
The pope has been well protected during his four-day visit to Britain, traveling in a custom-built bulletproof car surrounded by security officials.
The arrests follow a warning from the head of the MI5 security service that dissident Irish Republican groups opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland could seek to strike mainland Britain.
Suspected al Qaeda plots targeting Britain originate increasingly in Somalia and Yemen, partly as a result of counter-terrorism pressure on the group's leaders in Pakistan, the head of the MI5 security service said on Thursday.
Four young British Islamists killed 52 people and wounded hundreds when they set off suicide bombs on three underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005.
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