Anti-terror raids lead to 12 arrests over multiple bomb attack fears --Sources: Suspected targets included sites in Whitehall, including around Houses of Parliament 20 Dec 2010 Counter-terrorism officials launched a major operation over fears of multiple bomb attacks in Whitehall, central London, and on Christmas shoppers and revellers in the West Midlands, the Guardian has learned. In a series of co-ordinated pre-dawn raids in Stoke, Birmingham, Cardiff and east London, police arrested 12 men aged 17 to 28 and began extensive searches of a number of properties. Sources with knowledge of the operation said the arrests followed intelligence that targets including "public spaces" and shopping areas in the West Midlands were part of a suspected plot.