Scotland Yard issues apology after brothers' account

Scotland Yard began a damage limitation exercise last night as pressure continued to mount on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, to resign in the wake of the Forest Gate raid.

Hours after Mohammed Abdulkahar, 23, and his brother, Abul Koyair, 20, gave vivid and harrowing accounts of the night their lives were turned upside down, Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman of Scotland Yard apologised directly to the family for the "hurt" they had suffered.

Two hundred and fifty police officers were involved in the operation on 2 June, mounted after an intelligence tip-off that a chemical bomb was being prepared inside the house. The two men were released without charge last Friday.

Mr Hayman said: "I am aware that, in mounting this operation, we have caused disruption and inconvenience to many residents in Newham and more importantly those that reside at 46 and 48 Lansdown Road. I apologise for the hurt that we may have caused."

Wearing an arm sling and appearing close to tears, Mr Abdulkahar said he was shot in the chest by an officer and then assaulted and abused.

His brother Mr Koyair said:"I realised my older brother was shot for no reason. They tried to murder my brother. After that, I saw the officers. They were hitting my brother." In an unexpected twist, Mr Koyair also revealed he had been considering becoming a community police officer.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Tony Blair stood by comments that he backed police in the raid "101 per cent". The spokesman said: "As he said yesterday, if the police and the security agencies had failed to act on the intelligence they received, then people would quite rightly have been critical. There are always difficult judgements to be made in cases like this and we support the police and the security agencies in making these difficult judgements."

Yesterday's testimony by the brothers led to calls for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), to widen its investigation into the raid. Its current remit is limited to examining the circumstances of the shooting and the justification for issuing guns to officers. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "The allegations of misconduct need a full, impartial investigation so confidence in our police and security services can be restored, especially among minority communities."

David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "It should be automatic that the IPCC's remit be extended."An IPCC spokesman later confirmed that the investigation may yet be widened.