A Bag Packed With Explosives On His Back, The Bus Bomber Sets Out On His Mission Of Death (London)

A bag packed with explosives on his back, the bus bomber sets out on his mission of death

The teenage terrorist who blew up a double-deck bus in Tavistock Square, London, killing 13 people including himself, was caught on closed-circuit television two and a half hours earlier.

Hasib Hussain, bearded and wearing jeans and a jacket, was pictured at Luton railway station as he and three other bombers headed for the 7.20am train to London last Thursday.

In his rucksack was the 10lb bomb that exploded at 9.47am on the No 30 bus shortly after three other bombs went off in Underground trains.

Hussain, 18, a nondescript character, troublesome at home in Leeds and an under-achiever at school, was bent on martyrdom with his fellow terrorists and determined to cause maximum casualties during the London rush-hour.

As the official number of deaths rose to 54, detectives issued pictures of Hussain and appealed for help in tracing his movements.

Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said the police wanted to know what Hussain was doing in the hour and 21 minutes after 8.26am, when the four bombers passed through King's Cross station.

"We need to establish his movements until 9.47am when the explosion occurred in Tavistock Square," he said.

"In particular, we need to know his movements between the time he left King's Cross and the time he boarded the No 30 bus."

Mr Clarke said: "What we are asking the public is, Did you see this man at King's Cross? Was he alone or with others? Do you know the route he took from the station? Did you see him get on to a No 30 bus and, if you did, when and where was that?

Hussain and Shehzad Tanweer were officially named as members of the bombing team who were thought to have travelled by car to Luton from their homes in West Yorkshire.

Tanweer, 22, blew himself up on an Underground train near Liverpool Street station, killing six other passengers.

A third bomber is believed to be Mohammed Sadique Khan, 31, who died at Edgware Road, also with six passengers.

Scotland Yard sources confirmed that the fourth bomber was thought to be Lindsey Germaine or Jamal, a Briton of Jamaican origin who had been converted to Islam. He lived with his Muslim girlfriend, Samantha, and child at a rented semi in Northern Road, Aylesbury, Bucks.

He is believed to have set off the bomb that destroyed an Underground train between King's Cross station and Russell Square, killing 26 people including himself.

Anti-terrorist squad officers raided the house on Wednesday evening after linking it to a car used by the bombers. The car had been left in the car park at Luton station, 20 miles away.

Police have so far taken more than 500 witness statements and recovered more than 5,000 CCTV tapes as they seek to trace the bombers' route. Detailed forensic examinations are still taking place at the scenes of the explosions.

In Yorkshire the police investigations centred on a youth centre in the Beeston area of Leeds. Homes were evacuated as bomb disposal experts entered the building in Lodge Lane, which was believed to have been used by some of the terrorists.

Officers were also trying to trace any tenants or visitors connected to a rented flat in Alexandra Grove in the Hyde Park area of the city.

Police say that "materials" were found in the flat, which may have been used as a bomb-making factory.

The Queen stood at the courtyard gate of Buckingham Palace as she led two minutes' silence in memory of the victims. Much of the country came briefly to a standstill.

Similar tributes were paid across Europe and a vigil in Trafalgar Square last night attracted thousands of people.

Missing 81 minutes of the No 30 bomber

By John Steele
(Filed: 15/07/2005)

Police investigating the London bombings appealed last night for information that could fill in the missing 81 minutes in the suicide mission of Hasib Hussain, who killed himself and 12 other passengers on a bus in central London.

Hussain, at 18 the youngest of the four men who carried out western Europe's first suicide bombings, arrived with the others at King's Cross in central London at around 8.26am on July 7.

His bomb - like the other devices made of up to 10lb of high explosive - detonated on the No 30 bus, which was travelling from Marble Arch bound for Hackney, at 9.47am.

Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad is trying to establish his movements in the intervening 81 minutes, which remain a central mystery.

Hussain's fellow bombers fanned out east, west and south from King's Cross and their bombs exploded within moments of each other at around 8.50am.

One theory is that Hussain's target was in a northern direction, possibly on the Bank branch of the Northern Line in the direction of Euston and Camden Town, but that he was delayed for some reason and could not get on to the Tube.

Disruption after the other devices exploded may have been to blame, or he may have been caught up in the normal overcrowding at busy stations at the height of the rush hour.

Hussain died on the No 30 bus after, it is believed, setting off his bomb.

However, the possibility cannot be ruled out that he got cold feet, or panicked, and died in an accidental "own goal" blast.

It is not known why or where he boarded the bus, which should have travelled past King's Cross but was diverted - because of chaos caused by the earlier explosions - from its route along Euston Road, into the Woburn Place/Tavistock Square area, where the bomb went off.

Hussain may have left King's Cross station and walked a quarter of a mile or more along Euston Road to join the bus before it was diverted.

Or, finding himself unable to get on to the Northern Line, he could have travelled west on the Circle, Metropolitan or Hammersmith and City lines.

One possibility, which would be consistent with the timings, is that Hussain accompanied Mohammed Sadique Khan, 31, a primary school teacher, on the Circle Line, getting off before Khan's bomb went off near Edgware Road.

Exiting at any of four stations, from King's Cross to Baker Street, Hussain could have joined the No 30 on its route from Marble Arch towards King's Cross.

At a news conference yesterday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad, released a passport photograph of Hussain - one of two bombers to be formally, publicly identified.

He also released a CCTV image of Hussain carrying his bomb in a bulky rucksack at Luton rail station, timed at around 7.20am on July 7.

Police now know that Hussain and the three other suspected al-Qa'eda-inspired Muslim terrorists travelled from Luton to King's Cross Thameslink station. Mr Clarke appealed for anyone on the bus at any point on its route to contact police if they had not done so already.

Around 80 people were on the double-decker when the bomb went off on the upper deck. He urged anyone with information to call the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.

The bus started its journey at Marble Arch at 9am. By 9.05am it was in Gloucester Place and at 9.10am in Marylebone Road. By 9.30am it was in Euston Road, near the junction with Gower Street, heading east. The closure of King's Cross forced a diversion into Tavistock Square.

Mr Clarke told a news conference his officers had taken 500 witness statements and had seized and were analysing more than 5,000 CCTV tapes - a number that would rise dramatically, he predicted.

"The detailed forensic examination of the scenes of the attacks continues," he said. "Many vital clues have already emerged.

"We are also conducting detailed searches at premises in West Yorkshire and in Aylesbury, Bucks."

Mr Clarke suggested that it could take "many months of intensive, detailed investigation" to answer the key questions raised by the bombings: "Who actually committed the attack? Who supported them? Who financed them? Who trained them? Who encouraged them?"

Senior detectives believe that if the attacks were the work of al-Qa'eda-linked terrorists, it is likely that an experienced organiser, possibly supplying explosives, would have travelled to Britain to prepare the men, who then escaped before the atrocity.

However, they distanced themselves from reports that they had identified the movements of such a "mastermind".

Mr Clarke said police would only officially release information when they were entirely sure it was accurate. This could mean, he said, that some information appeared in the media before police could confirm it.

Identifications were a case in point, he said, where police were only releasing names of the dead once the coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, had accepted conclusive evidence.

Forensic proof could come in the form of dental records, fingerprints or DNA.

Mr Clarke officially released the names yesterday of Hussain and Shehzad Tanweer, who died in the Circle Line blast near Liverpool Street. However, both men were named earlier in the week by the media.

Khan's property was found at both Edgware Road and Liverpool Street and his name has been publicised, but Mr Clarke said police did not yet have forensic evidence to confirm that he died in the explosions.

Police believe they know the identity of the Piccadilly Line bomber, based on forensic evidence that made it "very likely" that he died in the blast, but formal identification still awaited a decision by the coroner.

Here's the problem ~ a neighbor's young son had this problem in Jerusalem while attending a language school.

His family have been engaged in business in the ME for centuries, are considered Arabs, etc., but for the kids to carry on in the family trade they need to go there to learn modern Arabic.

Jerusalem has some good schools for that ~ Israeli Jewish business families also send their kids to the same schools to learn Arabic so they can work with their employees or business partners throughout the region.

Still, most of the kids in this school were Arabs.

One day someone suggested the neighbor boy take a box to school as a present for the teacher. Fortunately his teacher, and the guard at the door, recognized the situation, had him put down the box, clear the area, and they brought in the IDF bomb squad.

It was a bomb.

There are people in the ME pushing an agenda that allows them to use children to murder other children, as well as themselves.

The adults doing this must be destroyed.

Ever since that event I haven't figured out if there are any more issues over there than that.

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.