A month that changed the face of Britain
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=W3Y2MECOZY0IVQFIQMFCNA
GAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2005/08/01/nbomb401.xml
(Filed: 01/08/2005)
What kind of explosives were used?
Experts believe that the July 7 blasts were caused by the kind of home-made,
chemical-based explosives similar to material found in a "bomb factory" in
Leeds, where three of the suicides lived, and in a car in Luton. They may
have been nail or shrapnel bombs.
The bus bombed in Tavistock Square
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2005/08/01/nbomb401.jpg>
The No 30 bus destroyed by a suicide bomber in Tavistock Square on July 7
The mix is believed to be a form of peroxide-based compound. There are
"initial chemical similarities" between the material found after July 7 and
that discovered after July 21.
Were 16 bombs left in a car in Luton after the July 7 suicide bombs?
Police sources have said there were 16 items, not 16 bombs. The items ranged
from packs of suspected chemical explosive material to "things with wires
sticking out" and were in the boot of a hire car left at Luton rail station
after July 7.
There was however one "viable" nail bomb, images of which were published
last week in America. The vehicle was understood to be linked to Shehzad
Tanweer, one of the suicides.
Was there a fifth would-be bomber on July 21?
A bomb similar to the four left on July 21 - chemical-based explosive
material in a plastic food container, with a detonator and shrapnel in a
rucksack - was found dumped in bushes at Little Wormwood Scrubs in west
London on July 23.
Police now suspect that it was for use by a potential fifth bomber, who for
some reason did not attempt to detonate it. It is also now suspected that
the bomb left in the Luton car was for a fifth bomber who did not collect
it.
Were the July 7 and July 21 attacks linked?
This is a critical question. Sources have suggested that, so far, they have
not established clear "evidential or forensic links" which could go before a
court.
There are, at least, apparent similarities between the type of explosives in
the two sets of events and it has been suggested that some of the July 21
suspects visited a white water rafting centre in Wales at around the same
time as some of the July 7 suicides.
Security sources believe that the two groups may not have been directly
linked, in terms of plotting together, but are likely to have shared
connections in the Islamic fundamentalist "Jihadist" network, which was
established largely in the Taliban and al-Qa'eda training camps in
Afghanistan.
The "mastermind"?
Given the enormous speculation over the past three weeks, "masterminds" is
more appropriate.
Senior police sources have stressed throughout that, if their suspicion is
correct and they are dealing with al-Qa'eda-inspired terror, they would
expect to find evidence of at least one organiser or co-ordinator.
To term such a player as a mastermind may be to underestimate the abilities,
for example, of the July 7 suicides, where the 30-year-old Mohammed Siddique
Khan was clearly an influence on the younger participants.
It has been reported that a suspected senior al-Qa'eda figure entered
Britain just before July 7 and left shortly before those attacks but it is
believed this turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
Spiritual influences?
An important, long-term aim is to establish where those involved in the two
bombing episodes were radicalised to the extent of being willing to blow
themselves up. Sources suspect a combination of spiritual "guidance" and the
influence of the jihadist network will become apparent. Radicalisation in
prison, as previously seen in the case of the "shoe bomber", Richard Reid,
is thought to be a growing problem.
A single bomb maker?
In the days of IRA campaigns, the "signature" of bombs often helped the
security services to track down the bomb maker. However, such simple
principles may not hold in the case of the London attacks, which may involve
the same basic compound.
If suspicions are correct and the explosive is a home-made, peroxide-based
compound, then similar mixes have been used around the work. Acetone
peroxide, a common variant, is a favourite of terrorists because it is easy
to make and difficult to detect.
Finding evidence of the detonators in the hundreds of dustbins of debris
from July 7 will take months. Eventually, though, they may be compared to
the bombs left on July 21.
This may reveal a single source of manufacture but, equally, it may be both
sets of attacks involved a variant of the peroxide mix put together from the
same recipe, but either "cooked" differently, or handled differently, by the
two sets of attackers.
Security sources have no doubt there are "experts" in the jihadist network,
possibly communicating through the internet, who could have passed on such
knowledge. Inquiries will focus on whether any of the suspects or suicides
had visited jihadist camps where they could have learned about making
chemical bombs.
International connections?
It is thought that three of the July 7 bombers had visited Pakistan, two of
them at the same time, and may have been to Afghanistan. Some of the
suspects in the July 21 case have links to east Africa.
Hussain Osman, who has been detained in Italy, is suggested to have made a
call to Saudi Arabia, the importance of which is unknown at present.
However, some of the September 2001 jet hijackers had Saudi links, as does
Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qa'eda.
The "Zambian" connection?
It has been reported repeatedly that Haroon Rashid Aswat, who grew up in
West Yorkshire and has been detained in Zambia, is wanted in connection with
the July 7 bombs. It is understood that his telephone number cropped up
once, in the past, in the records of one of the July 7 suicides, believed to
be Khan. Such background connections are common, sources say.
However, Scotland Yard sources are emphatic that he has not been detained in
Zambia at their request, that they have not sent officers to Africa, and
have no plans to do so.
Aswat has, in fact, been detained principally for the American authorities,
in connection with his suspected role in setting up a terrorist camp in the
state of Oregon, US reports say.
The Egyptian chemist?
An Egyptian biochemist, Magdy Elnashar, emerged in the days after July 7 as
allegedly linked, as a previous keyholder, to a flat in Leeds used as a
"bomb factory", and was said to have met one of the suicides.
He had returned to Egypt before July 7 and has been arrested since in Cairo.
However, Scotland Yard sources have insisted he was not arrested at their
instigation, he has denied any wrong-doing and the Cairo authorities have
been reported as saying they do not believe he has al-Qa'eda connections. At
present, Elnashar appears to have the potential status of a witness who will
be interviewed to piece together the history of the Leeds flat.
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