Police searched homes in London, Cardiff, Stoke and Birmingham in operations that are "absolutely necessary," the BBC quoted Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates as saying. Police sources told the BBC on Monday that no weapons were found during the initial searches.

The suspects, aged between 17 and 28, were arrested Monday in raids in the four cities. They're suspected of plotting a terrorist attack on British soil.

Charges could be leveled within days, Alex Carlile, the independent reviewer of the British anti-terror operations, Tuesday told a home affairs committee in Parliament.

"The briefing I have had shows there to be allegations of a significant plot in the cities mentioned," he was quoted as saying by the BBC. "On one occasion I was able to observe, literally observe, some of it occurring. I believe that it is very possible that people may well be charged and prosecuted."

Police said they had monitored the group for some time but decided to move in and make the arrests because the suspects apparently increased their activities.

British police have arrested many terrorism suspects over the past two years but less than 10 percent have been convicted of charges related to terrorism.

Officials said the arrests aren't linked to this month's bombing in Sweden, which killed only the attacker. On Dec. 12, Taimour al-Abdaly, a 28-year-old Iraqi-born Swede, was killed in downtown Stockholm. Police said a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely, preventing a more devastating attack.

British police got involved when it surfaced that Abdaly had lived in Luton while studying at the University of Bedfordshire.

A one-hour drive from London, Luton was the starting point for the four bombers in the attacks on the London transit system on July 7, 2005.

In an unrelated anti-terror operation, authorities last month arrested 26 suspects in several European countries.

Eleven suspects were arrested after a months-long investigation in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. They're suspected of plotting attacks on an unspecified target in Belgium. Officials said they used a jihadist Web site to plan terror attacks.

Police arrested seven people in Antwerp, Belgium; three in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and one near Aachen, in Germany. Those arrested are of Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan and Chechen nationalities, authorities said.

Europe has been on high alert since the United States in October warned of an increased threat from dozens of Europe-born al-Qaida insurgents who were trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan and have since returned to their home countries.

The warning came less than three weeks after authorities detected parcel bombs from Yemen on a plane in Dubai and on another jet that had landed in Germany and Britain.

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