Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.

A Guardian story by James Sturcke at http://www.guardian.co.uk

Three men were today arrested in connection with the July 7 London bombings, which killed 52 commuters on the capital's public transport system.

In the first significant arrests since the 2005 attacks, two men, aged 23 and 30, were arrested shortly before 1pm at Manchester airport, where they were due to catch a flight to Pakistan.

A third man, aged 26, was arrested at a house in Leeds shortly after 4pm.

The three were arrested by officers from the Met's counter-terrorism command on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

They are being taken to a central London police station, where they will be held in custody and interviewed.

Searches are being carried out at five houses in the Leeds area, and detectives are also searching a flat and a separate business premises in east London.

In a statement, the Met said the arrests came as part of "a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation" involving its officers and the West Yorkshire police counter-terrorism unit. Armed police were not used in the operation.

"Since July 7 2005, detectives have continued to pursue many lines of inquiry, both here in the UK and overseas," the statement said. "This remains a painstaking investigation, with a substantial amount of information being analysed and investigated.

"As we have said previously, we are determined to follow the evidence wherever it takes us to identify any other person who may have been involved, in any way, in the terrorist attacks."

Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.