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| Britain |
| UK intel warned of al-Qaeda attack on the London Underground |
| 2005-12-18 |
| Intelligence agencies warned Tony Blair government before the July seven suicide bombings that Al-Qaeda was planning a "high priority" attack specifically aimed at the London's underground subway network, a report said today. "A leaked four-page report by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), which oversees all spying, is the first definitive evidence that the intelligence services expected terrorist to strike at the underground," The Sunday Times claimed. The report also suggested that it could be the reason why Blair ruled out a public inquiry into the bombings last week. "The document, marked Top Secret and signed off by the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the government's evesdropping centre, was based partly on the interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al-Qaeda's then operations chief," it said. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 and suspected of involvement in the September 11 attacks in the United States, the killing of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl. The report dated April 2, 2003 is entitled International Terrorism: The Current Threat from Islamic Extremities. It states: "The UK and its interests remain high in Al-Qaeda's priorities. Interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other detainees confirms this." After the July 7 attacks, police said they had been given no prior warnings. However, two British newspapers had claimed that security officials in Saudi Arabia had conveyed warnings to Britain's intelligence agencies about the possibility of attacks earlier this year. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |