Police Switch Focus Of London Bombs Inquiry Back To July 7 (UK)

Scotland Yard is to re-assign scores of officers back into an "intelligence-led" investigation into the July 7 London bombings to trace the overseas terrorist group believed to have supported the suicide attackers.

A bomb disposal officer uses a robot to inspect of the July 7 'bomb factory'

For the past three weeks, the Metropolitan Police has concentrated on tracing and charging those suspected of being responsible for the failed attacks on three Tube trains and a bus on July 21.

Now, however, officers have been ordered to intensify their investigations into the associates - in Britain and abroad - of the four men who killed themselves and 52 other people a fortnight earlier.

Scotland Yard and security officials have now confirmed the disclosure made by The Sunday Telegraph two weeks ago that senior officers see no direct link between the July 7 and July 21 attackers.

However, they think it "improbable" that any terrorist cell was acting alone without financial, technical and other support, almost certainly from overseas.

As revealed by this newspaper last week, there have been a number of links between groups in Saudi Arabia and suspected terrorists in Britain, and these remain at the forefront of the investigation.

One police official said: "Our work on 7/7 never stopped, but we'll now have greater resources available. We hope to be in a position soon to inform the public about exactly what happened on 7/7."

Another Scotland Yard official said: "It's unlikely that the four July 7 bombers acted in complete isolation. Previous evidence from similar attacks mitigates against that. But we don't want to go public with our findings until we've come to an informed and reasoned conclusion."

Security sources say they do not believe there was an outside "mastermind" either operating within Britain or who came to Britain to supervise the July 7 bombings. Instead, it is now suspected that one or more of the British-born bombers attended a foreign terrorist camp.

"It is possible that all four attended training camps abroad, but it is also possible that one attended a training camp and then, in turn, trained the others," said one security source.

"It is interesting in itself that there are no apparent links between the two [July 7 and 21] groups, given the fact that the targets for the bombings were so similar and the fact that any bombing would have needed weeks, if not months, of preparation.

"We have now made significant progress in our investigations into the July 7 attacks. We have known from early on that the murderers were dead, so this has become an intelligence-led investigation into the wider circle around these four individuals. We have now built up a good picture not just of the suicide bombers themselves but also those close to them."

It is understood that MI5, the security service, and MI6, the intelligence service, have received substantial co-operation from their counterparts in several countries.

It is known that two of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, the suspected leader of the group, and Shahzad Tanweer, 22, spent several weeks in Pakistan shortly before July 7. The bombers are said to have obtained their explosives from a "bomb factory" in Leeds.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has admitted that other police work is likely to suffer because he wants to deploy significant resources into "London's biggest murder inquiry".

He has denied reports that the Met had specific intelligence of a third cell which it believed would carry out further attacks on London.

He added, however: "The fact that we have had two attacks makes the possibility of a third attack more likely not less likely."

The difficulties tracing any third cell that may be planning an attack have been intensified because none of the July 7 bombers was on the "intelligence radar".

Self-contained cells of "clean skins" - those without known links to terror groups - or copycat bombers are the hardest to detect by the police and security forces.

Sir Ian has acknowledged that the terrorist attacks have put an enormous strain on his force.

Many personnel have been diverted from more routine and other inquiries to investigate the July 7 suicide bombings and the failed attacks of July 21, while other forces have provided hundreds of officers to boost the Yard's crime-fighting capability.

senior officers see no direct link between the July 7 and July 21 attackers.

So the reports that members of both groups attended the same whitewater rafting trip were wrong?

"So the reports that members of both groups attended the same whitewater rafting trip were wrong?"

Hey! I forgot about that...they did say that and have pictures, didn't they?

" Hey! I forgot about that...they did say that and have pictures, didn't they?"

They had pictures of the July 7th people there and were investigating at one point whether some people linked to July 21st were also there, but there were no pictures confirming that and it has apparantly now been discounted.

This is the original BBC story on the possible link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4711533.stm

"Officers believe several people with links to addresses being investigated in relation to the 21 July attack may have also been on a trip at the centre.

But it is not yet clear whether they are the suspected bombers."

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