ANTI-TERROR police today raided five West Yorkshire homes in their hunt for the London bombers.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police swooped on houses in the county - backed by West Yorkshire officers.

The raids, which began shortly after 6.30am, came five days after terrorist bombs brought slaughter to the capital. The confirmed death toll has now risen to 52 with around 700 injured.

Scotland Yard confirmed news of the raids shortly after 9am today.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair (pictured) said the raids were "directly connected" to Thursday's atrocity.

He said: "There have been a series of searches carried out in Yorkshire. Those searches are still going on. There's very little else I can say at the moment, but this activity is directly connected to the outrages on Thursday."

Metropolitan Police said they and West Yorkshire Police searched four premises this morning as part of an "intelligence-led operation". They also went to a fifth address.

No arrests had been made so far.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "This morning in a pre-planned intelligence-led operation, Metropolitan Police officers supported by West Yorkshire Police officers carried out search warrants issued under the Terrorism Act at four residential premises in West Yorkshire and are currently at a fifth address.

"No arrests have been made and the searches are continuing."

This morning's raids were believed to be the first to be carried out by anti-terror police in Britain in connection with the bombings.

The raids began at around 6.30am and were spread throughout the morning.

They are believed to have taken place at five houses in the wider Leeds area.

It is understood that some premises around the fifth address have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Police sealed off a section of Colwyn Road in Beeston, Leeds.

Around 10 police officers stood outside the houses in the street and police tape cordoned off an area of about 75 yards.

Within the outer cordon, a second section of police tape marked off a red Volkswagen car outside one of the addresses.

Several police vans could also be seen at the top of the road.

Some residents of homes within the cordon stood on their front doorsteps watching the police operation.

Around eight cars and two vans were within the section of road cordoned off by police, who would not comment on the nature of the operation.

Huddersfield terrorism expert Prof Paul Rogers called this morning's police raids "significant".

The Kirkburton professor, who works in the Peace Studies Department at Bradford University, said the fact police have linked the dawn searches to the London attacks was unusual.

"At such an early stage it is unusual for police to link raids like this to specific events," he said.

"During the last few years there have been a lot of similar raids that have not been linked to anything specific and have often not turned much evidence up and few arrests."

He said identifying the terrorists could take a very long time.