http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1312&id=1710552005

Government to investigate bombing suspect's Eurostar escape

KAREN MCVEIGH

AN INVESTIGATION into how a suspect in the failed suicide bombings 
in London on 21 July was able to leave Britain and flee to Italy was 
announced by the government yesterday, amid reports a third Islamic 
terror cell was on the loose.

Geoff Hoon, the Leader of the House of Commons, expressed concern 
over the way Osman Hussain, a suspect in the Shepherd's Bush 
attempted bombing, escaped on a Eurostar train five days after the 
botched attacks before travelling to Rome.

Mr Hoon was asked yesterday - as seven more arrests were made in 
connection with the inquiry, this time in Brighton - about the 
checking of documents at Waterloo station. He said: "I understand 
that concern, and I am aware the Home Office will be looking at that.

"Certainly in recent times there has been enhanced security for 
those leaving the country, as well as for those coming into the UK. 
It is something we must continue to look at very carefully."

Paul Murphy, the chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and 
security committee, said it is to assess what lessons the agencies 
need to learn from the 7 and 21 July attacks.

Osman, whose lawyer said he is fighting extradition to the UK, was 
arrested by Italian police on Friday after being captured at his 
brother's flat on the outskirts of Rome. Police tracked him by 
tracing calls made from a mobile phone belonging to his brother-in-
law.

Reports suggested that, despite a massive manhunt for the fugitive 
bombers, whose photographs were widely published, Osman's British 
passport was checked only by French immigration officials at 
London's Waterloo rail terminal.

As the police investigation into the attempted bombings continued 
amid further arrests and the interrogation of four suspected bombers 
and a fifth linked to the cell, Osman's Italian lawyer spoke out on 
behalf of her client.

Antonietta Sonnessa said that Osman, also known as Hamdi Isaac, had 
told interrogators that his failed bomb attack was a "form of 
protest against civilians suffering in wars".

She said: "He was not a kamikaze. He didn't want to blow anything up 
at all. He cannot give any help to police for the simple fact that 
he is not associated with any terrorist organisation."

Osman was quoted by the Corriere della Sera newspaper as having said 
to police: "The idea that Muktar [fellow suspect Muktar Said-
Ibrahim] had was to spread fear among the English. He wanted to 
react to the aggressive atmosphere which Muslims faced after the 7 
July attacks. People gave us dirty looks in the street."

However, experts have dismissed any claim that the 21 July bombers 
did not intend to kill. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police 
Commissioner, said that, had the bombers been successful, the 
carnage would have been as bad as the 7 July bombs which killed 56 
and maimed many more.

Two of Osman's brothers have been arrested by Italian police, the 
second yesterday.

One report said that the brother, Fati Isaac, was accused of "hiding 
or destroying" documents. They are not believed to be directly 
linked to terrorism.

Scotland Yard has played down speculation that they are still 
hunting another suicide bomber cell in Britain. But a spokeswoman 
admitted: "We are still searching for other people in connection 
with this ongoing inquiry. We are not talking about cells. We have 
never spoken about a third cell."

The seven suspects taken into custody after the raids in Brighton 
brings the number held to at least 19. Police have been given extra 
time to question Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, who was captured in 
Birmingham on Wednesday after being disabled with a Taser stun gun. 
Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, alleged to be the Hackney bus bomber, and 
Ramzi Mohammed, linked to the Oval tube attack, are being questioned 
after their arrest in a flat in Notting Hill on Friday. Police are 
also questioning Wahbi Mohammed, 23, brother of Ramzi, after a raid 
in Tavistock Crescent, West London.

Last night, a man was arrested under anti-terror laws at Stockport 
railway station, Cheshire.







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