Neighbours tonight expressed their shock as anti-terror police hunting the London bombers today searched six properties in West Yorkshire.

Officers from Scotland Yard carried out a series of dawn raids in the Leeds area as part of an "intelligence-led operation".

Anti-terror police confirmed tonight that the family of one of four men suspected of carrying out the bombings had reported him missing on Thursday night. Some of his possessions were later found in the wreckage of the number 30 bus that exploded in Tavistock Square.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clark, the head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror branch, said that three of the four suspects came from West Yorkshire. Their home addresses were raided today, in the operation which began at 6.30am.

By mid morning police had cordoned off a semi-detached house in Colwyn Road in the Beeston area of Leeds, and a terrace house in Stratford Street, around two minutes walk away. A section of Tempest Road, which runs parallel to Colwyn Road, was also sealed off.

Local residents said one of the people living at 51 Colwyn Road was 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer. Some people said Mr Tanweer had not been seen for a number of days.

But his friend, Mohammed Answar, 19, said there was no way he could have been involved in the London atrocities.

"It’s impossible. It’s not in his nature to do something like this," he said. "He’s is the type of guy who would condemn things like that. My heart is with the guy wherever he is."

Mr Answar said his friend had lived in the Beeston area all his life and had recently completed a sports science degree, but he would not say where. He said they played cricket together only last week. Mr Answar said: "A lot of people know him. We’re all brothers. We all look after each other as brothers."

Another friend Azzy Mohammed, 21, said of Mr Tanweer: "He’s the kind of person who gets along with anyone. His sense of humour is very good. He’s a sweet lad."

Mr Mohammed said his friend was a good Muslim with no connection to any form of radical or extreme group.

People living in Colwyn Road said Mr Tanweer lived with his mother and father, a younger brother and two sisters. His father is understood to own a local fish and chip shop.

Later in the morning explosives officers carried out a controlled explosion to gain access to a property in Hyde Park Road, Burley, so that a search could be conducted for explosives. More than 500 people were evacuated from homes, businesses and the Leeds Grand Mosque in the surrounding area.

Police said that one man had been arrested, and taken to London for questioning. A 21-year-old local man, speaking at the scene near Colwyn Road, said that he believed that a group of his friends who are all young British-born Pakistani men in their early twenties had been arrested.

The man, who did not wish to give his name, said: "They’re all normal lads, very, very top lads they are. Police are just doing this for no reason. They don’t know what they are doing at the end of the day. This is a load of nonsense."

One of the six properties raided by police in West Yorkshire was a three storey red-bricked terrace house in Colenso Mount, Holbeck, Leeds. Forensics officers in white suits searched the property as uniformed officers stood guard at the end of the road, which had been cordoned off by police tape.

One neighbour said the family had lived in the house for more than 20 years. The man, who asked not to be named, said: "The lad was born here. He lived here all his life. They were very, very nice people. We all knew them but I wouldn’t say I knew them well. They were just a very nice family."

Other residents in neighbouring roads said they did not know the family involved, but one women, who did not want to be named, said the raids had come as a shock to the community. She said: "It’s terrible, we’ve never had any trouble like this, I just don’t understand it."

Tonight, children were playing in the roads around the street which the police had cordoned off and up to a dozen cars remained behind the police tape.