Posted on 07/14/2005 5:41:43 AM PDT by Zartan
London police question man, seek others in bombings probe
Thursday, July 14, 2005 Updated at 5:49 AM EDT
Associated Press
London — Police investigating the London subway and bus bombings questioned a man arrested in Leeds, and sought clues Thursday to the identity of others who may have supported the four suspected bombers.
Officers handed out leaflets at bus, railway and Underground stations on Thursday, seeking to identify anyone who may have seen the bombers.
The Guardian newspaper quoted an unidentified police source as saying they were "looking for the fifth, six, seventh and eighth man."
The assumption is that the four suspects would not have had the expertise to carry off the July 7 attacks on their own. Bombers hit three subway trains and a bus in the capital, killing at least 52 people and injuring hundreds.
Police have closed-circuit television film of the four young male suspects carrying backpacks and arriving at King's Cross station in central London 20 minutes before the subway explosions.
The Times newspaper, quoting unidentified police sources, said detectives were interested in locating M. Asi el-Mashar, 33, an Egyptian-born academic who recently taught chemistry at Leeds University. The Times said he was thought to have rented one of the homes being searched in Leeds.
Neighbours reported that Mr. el-Mashar had recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, The Times reported.
The Daily Telegraph said police were trying to identify a man seen standing near the four suspects on the platform at Luton railway station, where they apparently boarded a train for London on the morning of the bombings.
The Evening Standard reported on Wednesday that police had spotted a fifth man on closed circuit tape showing the group at King's Cross about 20 minutes before the explosions.
On Wednesday night, Metropolitan Police said offers raided a residence in Aylesbury, 65 kilometres northwest of London. No arrests were reported there.
In a series of police raids on six homes in the Leeds area on Tuesday, police hunted for explosives and computer files that could lead to the mastermind behind the attacks. They arrested a man, identified by Press Association as a relative of one of the suspected bombers.
On Wednesday, a judge approved a warrant for police to keep the man in custody through Saturday. The 29-year-old man was not identified.
Meanwhile, London's commuters were asked to pause in reflection, taxis and buses to pull off the road and workers to put down their tools across Britain in silent memorial.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Britons nationwide planned to mark the one-week anniversary of the London bombings with two minutes of silence at noon and a defiant gathering in Trafalgar Square.
Takeoffs and landings were to be kept to a minimum during the two-minute period at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and no trains were to leave London's main stations during the remembrance, officials said.
People across the 25-nation European Union also were being asked to observe the two minutes of silence, EU officials said.
News reports have identified three Britons of Pakistani descent as suspects in the July 7 attacks on three underground trains and a bus in London that killed 52 and injured 700. Britain's Press Association, citing police sources, said police had identified a fourth suspect, but no name or details were reported.
Surveillance cameras captured the suspects as they arrived in the capital 20 minutes before the rush-hour explosions began.
A U.S. government official confirmed that Shahzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Mohammed Sidique Khan are thought to have been three of the bombers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because British investigators have not publicly released the identities of the suspected attackers.
British media said Mr. Tanweer was a 22-year-old cricket-loving sports science graduate; Mr. Hussain, a 19-year-old; and Mr. Khan the 30-year-old father of an 8-month-old baby.
The British Broadcasting Corp. has reported that a fifth suspect is being sought in Western Europe's first suicide attack, citing unidentified sources. Police refused to comment.
Authorities suspect the attackers didn't work alone, and that their collaborators or leader are likely still at large.
Britain's top law enforcement official, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said authorities were looking closely "at the relationship between the people who may have committed the offenses and the wider network around them."
Several officials, including Foreign Minister Jack Straw, have said the attacks bore the "hallmark" of al-Qaeda. Two claims of responsibility purportedly from militant Islamic groups have surfaced.
The four suspects have been described in news reports here as suicide bombers, but officials have said there is no evidence to support the conclusion that the bombers intended to die.
In London, officers resumed the task of searching through voluminous evidence from closed-circuit TV footage and the grisly scene where the blasts ripped apart three trains and a bus.
An uncle of Mr. Tanweer said his nephew had gone to Pakistan for two months earlier this year to study religion, and that the family believed he was attending "some religious function" on the day of the bombings.
"It was total shock. I mean, it's unbelievable," Bashir Ahmed told reporters.
The Times quoted police sources as saying Mr. Tanweer had once been arrested for disorderly behaviour, and Mr. Hussain was questioned about shoplifting. The newspaper quoted sources as saying the name of one suspect "emerged" during an anti-terrorist investigation, but he was not arrested or questioned.
Yossef Bodansky, director of research at the International Strategic Studies Association, said the explosives likely came from Bosnia.
"Until you get the receipt, you will not [know] for sure, but all indications are right now that this is the source of the explosives and the fuses," he said.
He also surmised that the bombers may be part of a larger network.
"There's no question that these four were at the end of some kind of a totem pole," that included logistical systems, training, intelligence and other support.
Dead men tell no tales. That is what makes suicide bombers so appealing to foreign terrorists.
Brain wash them, load them up, lead them by the hand and then walk away.
Wow, how long did it take the Bosnians to bite the hand that helped them?
ping
Hey London! Put a pair of panties on the heads of your suspects! That'll get 'm to spill the beans.
Just horrifying to think of what Clinton did.
Serbia is being vindicated on a daily basis. Thank you Clinton scum.
A textbook operative. (Pun intended.)
You could have read that on this site years ago. There are no angels in the Balkans, but if there are true devils the Bosnians and their hitmen, the Albanians, fit the bill better than the rest.
By converting to Islam, the Bosnians gained many advantages from the Turks, who used them, and the Albanians, to suppress the Christian Serbs, Croatians, and Montenegrins. In this violent and bloody centuries-long oppression of the Christian Slavs, the Bosnians were usually the brains, the Albanians more often than not, the dirty-job men.
Albanians, BTW, are a tremendous police problem in the UK and all through the EU. Drugs, Stolen Cars, Kidnapping, Guns and Explosives, Extortion, Smuggling. They are an impenetrable tribal mass with an unique language related to no other in Europe whose dialects and tribal variations Interpol cannot seem to master. Would not be surprised if there is an Albanian connection to this outrage, especially in the supply department.
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