Police seek backers of London suicide squad

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – Investigators will need months to
uncover the planning and financial network behind the four
young men who blew themselves up in Britain’s first suicide
attacks, police chiefs said on Thursday.

Joined by others from Bali to Spain — both targets of
previous al Qaeda attacks — Britain came to a standstill at
noon in silent tribute to the 53 people killed a week ago.

In London, police puzzled over why one of the four
attackers blew himself up 57 minutes after the other three.
They issued his photo along with an appeal for clues from the
public.

“Al Qaeda clearly has the ability to provide training, to
provide briefing and to provide expertise, and that is what
occurred here and what occurred in Madrid,” Metropolitan Police
Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said, drawing parallels with last
year’s attacks that killed 191 in the Spanish capital.

“We have to find who planned it, where did the finances
come from, where have the explosives gone?”

Police have identified three British Muslims of Pakistani
origin and a Jamaican-born Briton as the men who carried bombs
in rucksacks aboard three underground trains and a bus.

Anti-terrorism police chief Peter Clarke said beyond the
identity of the attackers, police wanted to know: “Who
supported them? Who financed them? Who trained them? Who
encouraged them?”

“This will take many months of intensive detailed
investigation.”

SUPPORT NETWORK

The comments were the most explicit so far showing police
believe an expert support network lay behind the four bombers.

Security analysts have said it is inconceivable the four –
the youngest only 18 — could have carried out attacks that
required complex planning, careful selection of targets and
access to high explosives.

The four men were captured on security cameras just before
8:30 a.m. last Thursday at King’s Cross station, about half an
hour before three bombs exploded simultaneously aboard subway
trains heading south, east and west.

The fourth bomb went off 57 minutes later on a bus. The
reasons for the time delay and the different choice of target
remain a mystery.

Clarke released pictures of Hasib Hussain, the teenager who
police believe carried the bus bomb, and appealed to the public
for information about his final movements.

“The question I’m asking the public is: Did you see this
man at King’s Cross?” said Clarke.

“Was he alone or with others? Do you know the route he took
from the station? Did you see him get onto a Number 30 bus? And
if you did, where and when was that?”

He said the investigation was still in its early stages and
that new leads were emerging by the hour.

Police searches were continuing in Yorkshire and at
Aylesbury, 40 miles northwest of London.

Pakistan said it would fully assist Britain’s investigation
but was awaiting details of trips the suspects had made to the
country. Family members have said one of them briefly attended
a religious school in Pakistan.

“We have an ongoing cooperation with Britain to fight
international terrorism,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry
spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani.

SILENT TRIBUTE

Earlier, millions across Europe paid silent tribute on
Thursday to the 53 victims of the morning rush-hour attacks one
week ago.

Workers in London poured out of their offices to line the
streets in memory of the dead. In Trafalgar Square, traffic
came to a complete standstill as thousands of people gathered
in the hot sun for two minutes’ quiet reflection.

“One City, One World,” read a banner in the square, scene
of joyous celebrations just a day before the bombings when
London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics.

“I just lost one of my best mates — but two minutes ain’t
going to bring him back,” said Declan O’Hora, 22, contemplating
the death of his childhood friend Ciaran Cassidy at King’s
Cross station.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who on Wednesday said he would
look urgently at new measures to tackle extremism, marked the
silence in the garden of his Downing Street office, while Queen
Elizabeth observed it at Buckingham Palace.

Golfers at the 134th British Open championship stood
quietly on the fairways and greens of the St Andrews course in
Scotland.

Tributes were also paid in Madrid and Bali — both targeted
by bombers from the Islamist al Qaeda network in the past –
and in cities across Europe.