All Four Bombers Died

[Gold9472]

We'll see.

[Gold9472]

London Probes Attackers' Deaths in Blasts

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050712/...itain_bombings

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

LEEDS, England - Police are investigating whether four attackers — possibly suicide bombers — died in last week's London subway and bus explosions and have arrested one suspect after a series of raids Tuesday in Leeds, a northern city with a strong Muslim community.

At least three of the suspected bombers came from the West Yorkshire region, which includes Leeds, said Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch.

Closed-circuit TV video showed that all four had arrived at King's Cross station by 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, about 20 minutes before the blasts began that killed at least 52 people, Clarke said.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that explosives were found in a car at a rail station in Luton, 30 miles north of London. Police said earlier they carried out a controlled explosion on a car that was parked at the station and believed linked to the attacks. Metropolitan Police officers from London examining the car carried out the controlled explosion, Bedfordshire police said.

In a Scotland Yard news conference, Clarke said police had "strong forensic and other evidence" that the man believed to have carried a bomb onto the subway train that exploded between the Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations died in the blast, and they were awaiting confirmation from the coroner. Police were trying to determine whether the other three also died in the explosions.

Police, who had been saying there was no evidence of suicide bombings, indicated that there had been a breakthrough in their inquiry.

"The investigation quite early led us to have concerns about the movements and activities of four men, three of whom came from the West Yorkshire area. We are trying to establish their movements in the run-up to last week's attacks, and specifically to establish if they all died in the explosions," Clarke said.

One of the suspects had been reported missing by his family at 10 p.m. Thursday, and some of his property was found on the double-decker bus in which 13 died, Clarke said.

"We have now been able to establish that he was joined on his journey to London by three other men," he said.

Some witness accounts suggested the bus bomber may have blundered, blowing up the wrong target and accidentally killing himself. Media reports have quoted an eyewitness who got off the crowded bus just before it exploded as saying he saw an agitated man in his 20s fiddling anxiously with something in his bag.

"Everybody is standing face-to-face and this guy kept dipping into this bag," Richard Jones, 61, of Berkshire, told the BBC.

One theory suggested the attacker may have intended to leave his bomb on the subway but was unable to board because his coconspirators had already shut the system down.

Investigators also found personal documents bearing the names of two of the other men three near seats on the Aldgate and Edgware lines. Police did not identify the men.

Acting on six warrants stemming from those developments, British soldiers blasted their way into a modest Leeds row house Tuesday to search for explosives and computers. Streets were cordoned off and about 500 people were evacuated. Hours earlier, police searched five residences elsewhere in the city.

Leeds, about 185 miles north of London, has a population of about 715,000. About 15 percent of the residents are Muslim, and many come from a tight-knit Pakistani community, mostly from Murpir, south of Islamabad. Other pockets of the community are mostly Arab, coming from a variety of countries including Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The military, including a bomb squad, carried out the controlled explosion at the row house at 11:30 a.m. so detectives could enter the home in Burley, a neighborhood where public signs in storefronts and even a Church of England community center are printed in English and Arabic.

There was no immediate word of arrests.

No one was in the house at the time of the raid, police Inspector Miles Himsworth. Detectives were scouring it for explosives and other items, possibly computers, he said.

"It's a very, very complicated investigation," Himsworth said. "It will be a very slow and very meticulous search in order that any evidence that is there can be gathered carefully."

Cordons kept bystanders about 100 yards away from the house in Burley and police helped arrange prayers scheduled at a nearby mosque to be moved to other mosques nearby, Himsworth said.

In London, police said a security alert was issued at the House of Commons, but didn't say why. No evacuation had been ordered, but people were not being allowed to exit or enter the building.

Prime Minister Tony Blair promised authorities would hunt relentlessly for the bombers. Police said their painstaking investigation was moving ahead, and warned that the death toll, which went from 49 to 52 on Monday, would rise. Some 700 were injured in the attacks; 56 of those remained hospitalized.

Blair went to City Hall on Tuesday and signed a condolence book for the victims.

"With deep condolences for all those who lost their lives and for their families who mourn and with heartfelt admiration for London, the greatest capital city in the world," Blair wrote.

The families of those missing since the bombings endured an agonizing wait for word of the fate of their loved ones.

"I need to know, I want to protect him," said Marie Fatayi-Williams, who arrived from Nigeria to find out what happened to her immigrant son, Anthony, 26. "How many tears shall we cry? How many mothers' hearts must be maimed? My heart is maimed at this moment."

The family of Michael Matsushita, a New Yorker who moved abroad in the spring of 2001, said it was likely he was dead. The 37-year-old left home Thursday to go to work and never returned.

"At this time, we've been told that there is virtually no possibility that he is alive," said David Golovner, a family spokesman. "We realize the police wouldn't have told us that unless they were certain. We have given up, basically, any sort of extravagant theories about how he might still be alive."

The names of two more victims were released Tuesday. The families of 30-year-old financial adviser Jamie Gordon and Philip Stuart Russell — whose 29th birthday would have been Monday — said the two men were on the No. 30 bus that exploded near Tavistock Square.

So far, the names of four of the dead have been released.

Forensics experts have said it could take days or weeks to identify the bodies, many of which were blown apart and would have to be identified through dental records or DNA analysis.

Ian Blair said forensic experts were scouring the tunnel where a bomb exploded aboard a Piccadilly line train, the deadliest of the four blasts. Police said they are also scrutinizing 2,500 closed-circuit TV video taken from cameras around the blast sites.

Public transit officials said the number of passengers using London's vast bus and subway network, which handles 3 million people on a typical day, was back to normal Monday.

Sales of bicycles have climbed since the bombings as workers look for alternatives to public transport, the capital's biggest cycle retailer said.

[Gold9472]

London bombers 'were all British'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4676577.stm

After a day of intensive police activity, detectives say at least one of four suspected London bombers died in last week's Tube and bus blasts.

Security sources said it was likely three men whose belongings were found at the scenes are dead - there is a question mark about the fourth bomber.

Explosives were found in Leeds and Luton after a series of dawn raids.

The BBC's Frank Gardner said it was unlikely the men - who police believe were all British - acted alone.

He said the bombers - one of whom is thought to be as young as 19 - must have had assistance "from outside", perhaps from an expert who would have left the country before the bombs went off.

The men were captured on CCTV arriving together in London by train.

At least three of the suspects are believed to be British men of Pakistani origin who lived in West Yorkshire.

Police said they had arrested a relative of one of the four suspects in Yorkshire and taken them to London for questioning.

Breakthrough
Four bombs - three on the London Underground and one on a bus in Tavistock Square in the city centre - killed at least 52 people on Thursday.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain said they had received the latest news from the police with "anguish, shock and horror".

He said: "It appears our youth have been involved in last week's horrific bombings against innocent people.

"While the police investigation continues we reiterate our absolute commitment and resolve to helping the police bring to justice all involved in this crime of mass murder. Nothing in Islam can ever justify the evil actions of the bombers."

The breakthrough in the anti-terror investigation came after a day of raids in West Yorkshire and the seizure of a car at Luton rail station.

The raids, which began at 0630BST, centred on two properties in Dewsbury and four in Leeds.

They were carried out after the discovery on Monday night of CCTV images showing the four men at King's Cross station just before 0830BST on the day of the attacks.

The images showed the men, who had boarded a Thameslink train at Luton, carrying rucksacks.

Explosives were later found in the car at Luton, where experts carried out five controlled explosions as a cordon was erected around the station.

Police removed the explosives from the vehicle and were expected to destroy them later on Tuesday night.

A second car believed to be linked to the attacks was found at Leighton Buzzard, 10 miles (16km) west of Luton.

Bedfordshire Police were examining it after receiving a tip-off from the Metropolitan Police. They refused to say exactly where the car was found.

Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the searches, carried out under the Terrorism Act, were intelligence-led and "directly connected" to last week's attacks.

There is no identity for the fourth bomber and police do not know if his remains are at the King's Cross blast site or if he has fled.

Head of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch Peter Clarke said documents identifying three of the men were found near three blast sites.

Three of the four men were from the West Yorkshire area, said Mr Clarke.

His colleague, assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, said: "I want to conclude by making it absolutely clear that no-one should be in any doubt the work last Thursday is that of extremists and criminals.

"No-one should smear or stigmatise any community with these acts."

Following developments on Tuesday he described the investigation as "complex and intensive" and "moving at great speed".

Police said there was forensic evidence that one of the bombers died in the Aldgate explosion.

Property belonging to one of the suspects from West Yorkshire, who was reported missing by his family just after 10am on Thursday, was found on the devastated bus.

Police have established that man was joined on his journey to London by three other men.

The second man's property was found at the scene of the Aldgate blast and the third man's belongings at both the Aldgate and Edgware Road blasts.

Mr Clarke said: "We are trying to establish their movements in the run up to last week's attacks and specifically to establish if they all died in the explosions."

Eleven victims of the blasts have now been formally identified.

One inquest has been opened and adjourned, that of Susan Levy, 53, from Hertfordshire.

Eight more will be opened on Wednesday, including those of Jamie Gordon, 30, and Phillip Russell, 29, who were named on Tuesday.

A further two inquests will open on Thursday.

Police are asking for anyone with information on the bombs to contact their anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.

[Gold9472]

London bombs 'were first British suicide attacks'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlo...526712,00.html

· Bus bomber believed dead
· One held after homes raided in Yorkshire
· Explosives found in car in Luton

Simon Jeffery, Mat Smith and agencies
Tuesday July 12, 2005

The London terror bombings were the first suicide attacks on British soil and were carried out by home-grown terrorists, police sources revealed tonight.

Police said they believed four men who arrived at King's Cross last Thursday morning on a train from Leeds were behind the terrorist bomb attack that killed at least 52 people on three tube trains and one bus.

At least three of the bombers are believed to have been British males of Pakistani origin who lived in West Yorkshire. Detectives are still unsure about the identity of the fourth bomber.

The bus bomber is believed to be dead, and police said there was "strong forensic and other evidence" a second bomber died at Aldgate. Investigators are now trying to establish if the other two are alive or died in the explosions.

A relative of one of the suspects was arrested in West Yorkshire today and was being brought to London to be quizzed by the anti-terrorist branch.

Police sources tonight said that they were working under the assumption that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.

Suggestions that the bus was targeted by a suicide bomber were initially denied by police, but witnesses claimed an "agitated" passenger was seen rummaging in his bag.

Deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke, the head of the Metropolitan police's anti-terrorism branch, said CCTV footage at King's Cross station showed the four suspected bombers together at 8.30am.

The three tube blasts - at Aldgate, King's Cross and Edgware Road - came within a minute of each other at 8.51am. The bus bomb detonated 57 minutes later as the No 30 passed through Tavistock Square in Bloomsbury, central London.

DAC Clarke said police were now trying to establish the movements of the four men in the week before the bomb attacks.

"We are trying to establish their movements in the run-up to last week's attack and specifically to establish whether they all died in the explosions," he told a press conference tonight.

Six search warrants were today served under the Terrorism Act on houses in and around Leeds, during the operation in which one man was arrested.

"These included the home addresses of three of the four men," DAC Clarke told reporters. "A detailed forensic examination will now follow and this is likely to take time to complete."

The investigation has already established that personal documents bearing the names of three of the four men were found close to three of the explosions.

Property in the name of the suspected bus bomber - reported missing by his family on the morning of July 7 - was found on the No 30.

Property of a second man was found at Aldgate, and property belonging to a third was found both at Aldgate and at Edgware Road.

In a further development, police have found explosives inside a car left outside Luton railway station in Bedfordshire.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the vehicle, which was expected to be removed for forensic examination. Officers could not say how long the car had been parked there.

Metropolitan Police bomb squad officers have since removed the explosives. A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: "They think they have found some explosives and they have taken them out of the car and that is what they are going to explode safely."

The operation began today at 6.30am with searches on the West Yorkshire addresses, the first raids in Britain in connection with the attack.

Armed officers and army bomb disposal experts took part in the raids on the properties in the Leeds area. Materials seized during the operation and have been taken away for further examination.

At least one controlled explosion was carried out ahead of a raid on one of the properties, where police on the ground said they were searching for explosives.

Around 500 to 600 people were evacuated from the area close to the address in the Burley district of Leeds at around 11.30am. Army officers used a controlled explosion to gain access to the property at 1.20pm.

Neighbours said a 22-year-old man had lived at the house on Hyde Park Road with his family but had gone missing.

The operation in Leeds was being led by the Metropolitan police anti-terrorist officers with the support of West Yorkshire police and the army bomb disposal unit. Armed officers had been used as a precaution in case anyone was inside the property.

A house in Lees Holm, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was one of those surrounded by police. Scaffolders arrived in the afternoon and began erecting a platform at the rear of the property.

Police officers guarded the front of the terrace house and a police van blocked off the road, preventing people from visiting the scene.

Forensic investigators could be seen entering the house wearing masks and protective suits. Neighbours on the council estate said an Asian couple lived there with a young baby daughter. It is believed that the baby was aged about eight or nine months, a resident said.

Neighbour Sara Aziz, 28, a mother of two children, said the couple had not been there for more than a year. She said the man was aged about 29, while his wife was several years younger. She said the couple originally came from Pakistan but had moved from Leeds.

She added: "She left with the police this morning wearing a veil. He wasn't there this morning. I last saw him last week."

Earlier police cordoned off a white semi-detached house in Colwyn Road, a quiet residential street in the Beeston area of the city, and a terrace house in Stratford Street, around two minutes' walk from Colwyn Road. Material was seized during the raids and has been taken away for further examination.

· The Muslim Council of Britain is considering holding a national demonstration of protest against the terrorists behind the London bombings. The inter-faith event, which has yet to be agreed, would involve marches in the capital and other cities across the UK.

[somebigguy]

Mmm, no mention of Al Qaeda in all of this.

[Gold9472]

"British investigators have reportedly found a timer device amid speculation a suicide bomber may also have been behind the London terrorist attacks that killed at least 52 people and injured around 700.

CNN television reports that authorities think the device may have triggered one or more of the four explosions that occurred at underground railway stations and on a bus during the morning rush hour.

The discovery of the timer device indicated the attacks may have not been carried out by suicide bombers, CNN said.

One senior US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said British officials had found some suspicious items after the blasts, including one that they detonated in a controlled explosion.

But there was no indication of what the items were."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/inv...?oneclick=true

[Gold9472]

Timing devices found in London: reports

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...7/s1410263.htm

British investigative authorities have reportedly found two timing devices used by terrorists in yesterday's bombing attacks in London.

The reported discovery has prompted speculation that at least two of the four bombs which exploded in London's Underground rail network and on a bus were detonated remotely.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard says 52 people have been killed, while the official death toll stands at 37.

More than 700 people were injured in the attack.

There are differing views as to whether suicide bombers were involved.

American network CNN says the discovery of the timer device indicates the attacks may not have been carried out by suicide bombers.

The New York Times online version has also reported that the three bombs used in the subway were apparently detonated by timers, not suicide bombers.

The newspaper says the fourth bomb may have been intended for a target other than the city bus it destroyed.

[Gold9472]

"ABC News quoted US authorities as saying that London police had recovered key parts of the timing devices that set off the bombs and also said there were reports that police might have found two unexploded bombs on Thursday.

CNN cited US law enforcement sources as saying investigators had found fragments of timing devices that might have been used in the three train blasts, but no such fragments had been found in the bus explosion."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1165203.cms

[Gold9472]

Keep an eye on this story... if the "Timing Devices" go away, then it may be a key part to the investigation.

[aceace]

MP3
http://www.ickedownload.com/file/ale...th,%202005.mp3

Long but well worth the listen, I feel as informed as ever.