Police officers stand next to terraced housing in Harlesden Road, north London April 28, 2017. British counter-terrorism police said on Friday they had thwarted an active plot after a woman was shot during an armed raid on a house in north London in the second major security operation in the British capital in the space of a few hours. RETUERS/Neil Hall

LONDON (Reuters) - Three young women were arrested under anti-terrorism laws in east London on Monday in connection with a security operation in the capital last week, police said.

The two 18-year-old and one 19-year-old women were held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts, the Metropolitan Police force said .

“The arrests were made as part of an ongoing intelligence-led operation in connection with an address on Harlesden Road,” the police said in a statement, referring to the location of a raid by armed counter-terrorism officers in northwest London on Thursday evening.

Police at the time said that raid had disrupted an active militant plot.

Monday’s arrests came days after a man was arrested carrying knives near Prime Minister Theresa May’s office in Westminster, and just over a month after a British-born convert to Islam ploughed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

On Thursday, armed counter-terrorism officers using tear gas stormed the house in the Willesden area of the capital and shot a woman in her 20s.

She was released from hospital on Sunday, then herself arrested on suspicion of committing terror offences.

Britain has been on its second-highest alert level of “severe” since August 2014, meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.