Still No Arrests in London Bomb Attacks
July 9, 2005
Speaking two days after the morning rush hour bombings on London's transport system which killed at least 50 people and injured around 700, Commander Brian Paddick of the London Metropolitan Police said that police were not focusing on any specific suspects.
"We have not arrested anyone in connection with the incident," Paddick told a news conference. "We have all our options open we are pursuing but we are not confirming that we are looking for any particular named individuals."
The blasts, three on the British capital's underground rail system and one on a bus on Thursday, were closely coordinated. Paddick said the underground bombs went off within 50 seconds of each other and were probably set off with timers.
The bus bomb, which tore off the double-decker's roof, had probably been left in the vehicle by someone, suggesting it may not have been the work of a suicide bomber. "The evidence we have so far found suggests that it was a device in a bag rather than strapped to an individual," Paddick said, adding that the bombs used high explosives and were likely not home made.
Forensic police garbed in white picked over the bombing sites, curtained off by plastic sheets, scrambling for leads in a vast investigation focused on Osama bin Laden's terror network.
Second group claims responsibility
A second group linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization claimed responsibility for the synchronized blasts in a statement posted on an Islamic website. "A group of mujahedeen from a division of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades piled blow after blow on the infidel capital, the British capital, leaving dead and injured," said the statement.
The Masri division congratulated itself on "this laudable conquest" and warned that more attacks would follow. The statement's authenticity could not be verified. Shortly after Thursday's attacks a separate statement claiming responsibility was posted in the name of the "Al-Qaeda Organization - Jihad in Europe."
Investigators have yet to name any suspects, but British newspapers Saturday said police had asked European counterparts for information on Moroccan cleric Mohammed al Garbuzi, who lived in Britain for 16 years before vanishing from his north London home last year.
Al Garbuzi, 45, heads the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), blamed for attacks that killed 45 people in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in May 2003. The Independent newspaper said al Garbuzi was linked to Abu Qatada, a Palestinian cleric based in London who is considered the "spiritual head" of Al-Qaeda in Europe. He is currently detained under British anti-terrorism laws.
Another paper, the Sun, said police were also hunting Syrian-born Spanish national Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, thought to have links to a Spanish Al-Qaeda cell dismantled after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Investigation continues
About 100 feet (30 meters) below the streets of London, a grisly investigation was continuing. In the single worst blast, at least 21 people died when a bomb exploded on a Piccadilly Line subway train travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square stations in the city center.
Some reports warned this toll could rise by as much as 20. Such was the devastation that emergency services have not been able to reach all of the train, given that the tunnel is only marginally wider than the carriages.
Engineers were considering detaching some of the carriages and towing them back to King's Cross, giving better access to the worst-hit parts of the train where more bodies likely remained, reports said.
According to some experts, the scale of the damage and the fact that police say each device weighed less than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) indicates that the bombers probably used powerful military-grade plastic explosives. As well as examining forensic evidence, a key part of the police investigation is likely to be the painstaking examination of hours of security camera footage.
Blair warning
British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned no amount of security could prevent the sort of attacks which brought carnage to Thursday morning's London rush hour. The world must learn the reason behind terrorism and "try to pull it up by its roots," Blair said in a BBC radio interview on Saturday.
"Probably with this type of terrorism the solution cannot only be the security measures. I have never really doubted that myself," Blair said. "The underlying issues have to be dealt with too."