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Police seek backers of London suicide squad

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 11:51 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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