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| Britain |
| One month later, details of 7/21 still a mystery |
| 2005-08-23 |
| One month on, and even with the suspected perpetrators in custody awaiting trial, mystery shrouds the failed attempt to repeat the brutal July 7 bombings in London. Militants, inspired if not directed by Osama bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network, were reputedly behind both the July 7 and July 21 attacks on three Underground subway lines and a double-decker bus. In the first case, 56 people died, including four apparent suicide bombers - three of them born in Britain, the fourth a Jamaican-born immigrant. No one died in the second attempt, allegedly carried out mainly by immigrants from East Africa, but it shook Londoners to a greater degree - and led the next day to the police shooting of an innocent Brazilian worker. With its biggest-ever criminal investigation still very much underway, the Metropolitan Police has yet to establish a firm link between the two groups - although it strongly suspects there is one. For that reason, its commissioner Sir Ian Blair said this week, there is every reason to fear that a third cell, or more, are out there, waiting to pounce. âIntuitively, there are such similarities between the methodology and the equipment that we must think there is a possibility of others,â he told the Evening Standard. Detectives, drawing on their experience with Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s, focused intensely on the second incident, sensing it would turn out to be a gold mine of evidence. Three men - Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, Ramzi Mohamed, 23, and Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27 - have been charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and possession of explosives at the Warren Street and Oval subway stations and the Number 26 bus. Osman Hussain, also known as Hamdi Issac, 27, was arrested in Rome on July 29 on suspicion of trying to carry out an attack at Shepherdâs Bush station. His extradition back to Britain is pending. A fifth man, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, is also being held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder after a discarded rucksack was found in a west London park two days after July 21. Neither the first nor the second group left videos or other messages claiming responsiblity or setting out motives, but Al Qaedaâs second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri has condoned their actions. Jeremy Binnie, an analyst with Janeâs Terrorism and Insurgency Centre in London, said it was âentirely possible that the second group might have been independently planning another kind of attack and reconfigured their planâ in order to duplicate the first group. The July 7 group probably acquired its bomb-making skills from Pakistan, then decided what its targets would be upon their return to Britain, Binnie said this week. On the other hand, the July 21 cell had âvery different bomb technology from the first group, and their bombs didnât go off,â raising the prospect that they had no âoutside assistanceâ and tried to assemble their bombs themselves. Binnie also believed that Al Qaeda was likely an inspiration to the London bombers, and not the commander of operations. âAs Al Qaeda becomes less of an organisation, it becomes more of an ideology in itself... To be Al Qaeda, all you have to do is go out and do something. You donât actually have to have any contact with bin Laden,â he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |