THE investigation into last week's London bombings is seeking links between the four suicide attackers and eight British-born ethnic Pakistanis Scotland Yard arrested in 2004, The New York Times reported today. The eight suspects were arrested during Operation Crevice in late March 2004 in two dozen raids in sourthern Britain, which also yielded more than half a ton of explosive materials, the newspaper said, quoting British and European investigators. They were accused of forming a sleeper cell that intended to stage an attack in London, the newspaper said.In view of the fact that last week's terrorist bombings in London were carried out by a sleeper cell that included British-born residents of Pakistani origin, investigators are trying to determine if there were contacts between the two groups. One investigator told the daily that at least one of the suicide bombers in the July 7 terrorist attacks in London had telephone contact with one of the men arrested in the 2004 plot. Investigators say exploring these potential links is important as they try to understand the shape of the plot in the attacks and whether the attackers had support from abroad. "We have just begun to look at this, but it's possible some of these men knew the men arrested last year," a senior counterterrorism official said.