Posted on 07/08/2005 1:48:50 PM PDT by Graybeard58
British police, terrorist experts, start hunt for London bombers.
The day after four bombs killed more than 50 people during London's morning rush-hour, a "massive intelligence" search for the bombers has begun. The CBC reports that police and counter-terrorism experts have already begun poring over "thousands of hours of video footage from transit stations after Thursday morning's rush hour explosions."
But British officials say it won't be easy. The BBC reports that Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the hunt for the terrorists will be like "looking for a needle in a haystack."
The Guardian reports Mr. Clarke also said that an Internet claim of responsibility by a supposed European cell of Al Qaeda was a "serious one."
Mr. Clarke refused, however, to rule out other terrorist groups, including "some elements of Irish terrorism". "We haven't ruled anything out at all, but there is a strong possibility that the kind of attacks that took place in Madrid is what we are talking about here," he said.
He said the police and security services would only narrow their inquiries when they had confirmed the "modus operandi" of the terrorists through forensics on the scene of the attacks.
Explosive experts are examining debris from the four bombing locations. Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA's counterterrorism center, told the Guardian that "two unexploded bombs" were recovered as well as "mechanical timing devices".
The Daily Telegraph writes that by using the Al Qaeda name, it creates a "multitude of suspects" for police to investigate.
Britain has long offered a haven to exiled dissidents and in recent years has become an international center for Islamic militancy. Experts also doubted whether the new law [enacted after 9/11 to put certain groups associated with terrorism on a 'proscribed' list] would have much impact on British-based groups since they can change their names and could be driven underground.
For many years prior to September 11, politicians maintained that Britain must not be allowed to become a haven for international terrorists. But it has and, arguably, still is. More than half a dozen governments have filed diplomatic protests with the Foreign Office about the presence of such groups.
Most rail service returned to normal Friday, with a few restrictions on the London Underground. Bus service returned to full strength. The Guardian reports that police had asked people to stay at home today, but early reports say many still came into London for work.
Scotland Yard says that seven people were killed in the Liverpool Street explosion and another seven were killed at Edgware Road. At least 21 lost their lives at the King's Cross blast. At least five people died in an explosion aboard a double-decker bus. Official say the number of deaths is expected to rise on Friday.
Sky News reports that police are also unsure if the explosion on the bus was caused by a suicide bomber, but eyewitnesses say one man on the bus was acting suspiciously in the moments before the explosion.
Richard Jones, who was travelling on the bus, said he is convinced he saw a bomber setting a device. The 61-year-old told The Sun: 'I noticed him as he looked nervous. He was continually diving into his bag, rummaging round and looking in it.' Seconds after Mr Jones stepped off the bus, it exploded with the 'bomber' still on board.
Meanwhile, threats against Muslims in Britain began almost immediately. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) received over 1,000 e-mail threats Thursday, despite its almost immediate condemnation of the attacks.
In a statement the MCB said: 'These evil deeds makes victims of us all. The evil people who planned and carried out these series of explosions in London want to demoralize us as a nation and divide us as a people. All of us must unite in helping the police to capture these murderers.'
The International Herald Tribune reports that one of the explosions happened at an Underground station, Aldgate, in the heart of London's Muslim community. The attack provoked "shock, disbelief and anger" in the community, which in the past few years, "has been among Britain's most aggressive in reaching out to other faiths and to the local authorities."
British police officials said they would "deal very robustly" with any hate crimes against Britain's Muslim community. No attacks have been reported.
In an editorial in The Arab News, Adel Dawish writes that "Words of condemnation and solidarity are fine and great in their symbolic value, but they are not enough unless backed by practical measures in cooperation with Britain and the rest of the civilized world to defeat the evil forces of terrorism."
It is not right to call a suicide bomber a 'shaheed' or martyr, just because he supports a cause those commentators and clergy consider just or right. Murder is murder, as one respected Muslim scholar after another told me yesterday, quoting from the Qur’an ('Who he destroys one human soul destroys the whole of humanity'). Thus they must declare that any attack on civilians, or even on off-duty soldiers is an act of terrorism. As millions of Muslims congregate for Friday prayers today, I hope the message from their imams will be clear in condemning terrorism and ruling that Islamic teachings forbid killing.
try setting fire to the haystack...see what runs
Look in the mosques, and Islamic Centers and in their summer training camps...
Look under every rock & burkha
If you cant find them it's because their community supports them and is hiding them out and giving them aid and comfort..
Moderates would not help them...Moderates would turn them in
Moderates would help you find them...
easy "plinking"
My thoughts (almost) exactly,
Start shipping out the haystack, the needle may appear
needle in a needle-stack... too many there to easily seperate. B u t, I have faith that they will be found.
Do the Brits have the DP anymore? I think not, someone tell me I'm wrong.
More like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.