LONDON, July 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to crack down on Muslim scholars “inciting hatred” in the country.

In a statement to a hushed House of Commons on Monday, July 11, Blair promised to seek cross-party consensus on any new anti-terrorism laws, including measures to catch and convict those helping to plan terrorist activity, or glorify and condone acts of terror, Britain’s The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday, July 12.

Condemning last week’s blasts as a "murderous carnage of the innocent," he said new laws to catch people planning acts of terrorism will be fast-tracked through parliament if the police and security services investigating the bombings want extra powers.

A spokesman for Blair said Tuesday, July 12, that any new legislation would look at moving against acts preparatory to terrorism and those who encourage others to launch attacks, Reuters reported.

Blair promised Monday one of the most "vigorous and intensive" manhunts ever seen to find those responsible for Thursday's attacks which killed at least 52 people and injured up to 700.

"It seems probable that the attack was carried out by Islamist extremist terrorists of the kind who over recent years have been responsible for so many innocent deaths," he said in his first comments to parliament about the bombings.

Blair also pledged to work with Muslims in Britain to promote the "moderate and true voice" of Islam.

"We were proud of your contribution to Britain before last Thursday. We remain proud of it today," he addressed the country's Muslim minority.

"I don't think it's just Islamic clerics we have to be worried about but anybody from society who incites hatred," said Sacranie.

Blair’s statements drew cautious welcoming from British Muslim leaders for fingering Muslims.

"If there's anybody, not just clerics, inciting hatred - it's not a crime at the moment but it can become a crime," the Telegraph quoted Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, as commenting on Blair’s remarks.

"I don't think it's just Islamic clerics we have to be worried about but anybody from society who incites hatred. They are all culprits in my view."

Sacranie urged British Muslims to be vigilant and not to hesitate to report any information about "criminal acts" to the council or to the police.

"We wanted to show once again the solidarity of all communities in fighting the common enemy," he said.

The Muslim minority in Britain has vehemently condemned the terrorist attacks with leader planning a series of social activities and media campaigns to show the true face of Islam in addition to sin-ins and peaceful marches.

The spiritual leader of the Church of England, Rowan Williams, warned Monday against making Muslims "scapegoats" for the London bombings.

Famed British writer Karen Armstrong wrote in the Guardian Monday that terror has no religion, with people calling themselves Muslims, Christians or Jews committing crimes in the name of their religions.

Sky News television reported Tuesday that "a number of arrests" had been made by police in West Yorkshire, northern England, in connection with Thursday's bombings in London, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Police spokesmen contacted by AFP were unable to confirm the report.

"This morning, in a pre-planned intelligence-led operation, Metropolitan Police officers executed search warrants issued under the Terrorism Act 2000 at four residential premises in West Yorkshire," a police spokesman said earlier.

"Police are currently attending a fifth address….The searches are in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on July 7," he added.

Britain's domestic Press Association news agency said officers had sealed off a section around a white semi-detached house in the Beeston suburb of southeast Leeds, with police tape marking off a red Volkswagen car outside one address.

About 20 police officers in uniform, police vans and unmarked police cars were at the scene in Colwyn Road, a residential street. A stretch of a nearby road was also cordoned off.

Tuesday's raids -- supported by officers from West Yorkshire Police -- were believed to be the first to be carried out by anti-terrorist police in Britain in connection with the bombings.

Police reportedly arrested several people during the raids. (Reuters)

In a related development, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, meanwhile, urged the EU Tuesday to quickly pass new security legislation allowing access to telecommunications data in the wake of the blasts, Reuters reported.

"I believe that provided there are proper safeguards that no one's civil liberties are threatened by retention and access to data, but the protection of everybody is more greatly enhanced," he said at the European Parliament.

"There has, I know, been some hesitancy on some dossiers, particularly on this issue of the retention and access to telecommunications data ... on the perfectly justifiable grounds of civil liberties," noted Straw.

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke earlier in the week called for recording phone calls and tracking e-mails across Europe in the aftermath of the London attacks.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is expected to urge his European counterparts in a meeting on Tuesday to move quickly on exchanging intelligence to track suspect funds and tighten control on charities and money transfers.

"He'll ask them to step up the action plan on counter-terrorism," a British Treasury official told Reuters.