 London's four suspected suicide bombers had wanted to scar the city with a "burning cross" of blasts in its north, south, east and west, in the hope of being declared Islamic martyrs, a newspaper has claimed. The theory came as a global manhunt began for the man suspected of being the mastermind behind the suicide bombings.
The four suspects were caught on security cameras at London's Kings Cross station, heading off in different directions shortly before the three bombs went off near Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square Underground stations early last Thursday. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus nearly an hour later. Police suspect three of the young men carried bombs east, west and south, while a fourth had planned to take the north-bound Northern Line, but, as this was disrupted, he changed plans and boarded a bus, London's Evening Standard said. Investigators have developed the "burning cross" theory based on an internet statement by a shadowy group calling itself the Organisation of al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe, which claimed responsibility for the blasts, the paper said. Now police are looking for a British-born man in his 30s, of Pakistani origin, who arrived at a British port last month and left the country again the day before the July 7 attacks, The Times newspaper reported. Additional: The leader of the terrorist cell is understood to have been involved in previous terrorist operations and have links with al-Qaida in the United States. | I'm surprised. I'd have thought they'd be looking for a Soddy or an Egyptian in his 30s, who arrived last month and departed the day before the attacks. But maybe that's the Mastermind™ behind the one they're looking for... |
| Perhaps only his passport is Pakistani |
Security experts say the four first suicide bombers - all British-born men of Muslim Pakistani origin, would have received training and direction from a more senior militant for the attacks that killed at least 52 people and wounded hundreds, including 10 Australians. That raises the prospect of the bombmaker still at large and maybe that future suicide bombers have already been armed. "Clearly there will be people behind this group and involved in this and clearly we are seeking those people," a police spokesman said. "The assumption has got to be they weren't acting alone."
| I believe the Indons rounded up about 40 bad guyz in the wake of the Bali bombings, though the core organization was about a dozen men, to include the Masterminds™. The May, 2003, Soddy operation produced the list of the 19 Most Wanted. If I remember correctly, which I probably don't, the Casablanca booms produced a similar number. So we're probably looking at between a dozen and 20, counting the dead bad boyz. |
Police additionally want to interview an Egyptian-born university lecturer who was teaching in Leeds until a few weeks ago.
| Ahah. I knew he'd be there someplace... |
According to The Sun newspaper, the man, who it named as 33-year-old Magdi El-Nashar, was studying for a biochemistry doctorate at Leeds University and disappeared just before the attacks, possibly to Egypt. At least two of the bombers had links to his rented flat, which is one of six addresses in and around Leeds raided by police on Tuesday morning, the report added.
| So Magdi, assuming he's the guy, would be the actual in-place controller and maybe the recruiter, while Mr. Harkat U. Mujaheddin, from Lahore, would be the runner, providing the training and bringing with him the Fraternal Greetings™ of Binny or Ayman or whoever else is the godhead of the operation. The other Arab, the shadowy background guy, would be the guy who knew the logistics part of it, which'd be other, isolated cells. They'd be the guys who got the explosives into the country... |
Additional on Magdi: The Times of London, quoting unidentified police sources, said detectives were interested in locating Magdy el-Nashar, 33, an Egyptian-born academic who recently taught chemistry at Leeds University. The Times said he was believed to have rented one of the homes being searched in Leeds. A spokesman at North Carolina State University said el-Nashar studied chemical engineering there, beginning in January 2000. Saad Khan, the chemical engineering department's director of graduate programs, said he remembered that el-Nashar applied for admission while living in Egypt. But by the end of the spring semester, el-Nashar had changed direction and decided to pursue a doctorate at Leeds instead, Khan said. In a statement Thursday, Leeds University said el-Nashar enrolled in October 2000 to do biochemical research, sponsored by the National Research Center in Cairo, Egypt. It said he earned a doctorate May 6. "We understand he was seeking a postdoctorate position in the U.K.," the university said. "His visa was updated by the Home Office earlier this year. He has not been seen on the campus since the beginning of July."
Neighbors said el-Nashar recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, The Times reported. | Chemistry prof could make him a candidate for the bomb maker |
Late Wednesday night, anti-terror police spread their search to the market town of Aylesbury, about 64km north-west of London, searching one residential address but making no arrests and finding no explosives.
| Dunno if they're following up the boyz' contacts or if they're looking for second-wave boomers. So far we haven't seen a second wave in any major operation... |
The bombers' background became the subject of a row between London and Paris, with Charles Clarke, the interior minister, denying comments by his French counterpart that British police had arrested some of the suspects in the past. "It is completely and utterly untrue. I am absolutely staggered he should make that assertion," Clarke told Sky TV. He later told Channel Four News, however, that the police and intelligence services were looking at any previous brushes with the law the suspects may have had. A British police source said it was possible some of the men might have come to the attention of police in the course of normal criminal investigations.
| I'd be surprised if they had, though it's common enough to use professional criminals in Pakland... |
The BBC said two of the suspected bombers had been arrested for minor offences in 2004 and released with a caution - one for disorderly conduct and one for shoplifting.
| That's not even minor dirty in this day and age... |
The BBC also said police were hunting a fifth man, connected to the attackers, but not one of them. The report could not be confirmed by a London police spokeswoman. Police were granted a warrant enabling them to continue questioning until Saturday a man arrested in West Yorkshire on Tuesday in connection with the attacks.
| This is the moment of truth for the Brit police. The Indons have already been down this road, though they do use truncheons. So have the Moroccans. So have we. So have the Russers, though I doubt if the Brit police will devastate Leeds... |
In Pakistan, an intelligence official said one of the dead men, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, had been in the Lahore area from December to February. There he stayed at a madrassah, an Islamic religious school of the type widely seen by security agencies as breeding grounds for militancy.
| Gee, golly, gosh! Who'da thunkit?... Ummm... Which one? |
The Muslim Council of Britain said it was stunned that those claiming to share its faith seemed to be behind the attacks. "Nothing in Islam can ever justify the evil actions of the bombers," secretary-general Iqbal Sacranie said in a statement.
| Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. Are you turning out your membership to track down and hand over to the cops all the hard boyz associated with the perps? Then shuddup. |
Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Britain to be tolerant amid fears of a backlash against its 1.6 million Muslims.
| The obligatory glass of warm milk... |
He said he would look urgently at new measures to tackle extremism, including boosting efforts to stop people entering the country to stir up hatred. In Brussels, Blair was backed by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for tighter European border controls. Sarkozy also said there was a strong suspicion the explosives used in the bombings came from the Balkans or eastern Europe.
| My guess would be Bosnia, which needs to be cleaned out... |
Sarkozy called for EU member states to exchange intelligence on "radical Muslim preachers and imams whose actions disrupt public order by their support for violence, hatred and discrimination", according to his speaking notes.
| And then they should hunt them down and kill them like dogs. |
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