British police hunt fugitive London bombers

By Gerard Wynn and Matt Bigg

LONDON (Reuters) – Police are hunting up to four bombers
who struck at London’s bus and underground train network in an
apparently failed bid to repeat the carnage of the July 7
blasts which killed more than 50 people.

Forensics experts searched the three underground trains and
double-decker bus that were hit by small, near-simultaneous
explosions at lunchtime on Thursday. They were also examining
the remains of the explosive devices in the hope of finding
fingerprints or other clues to the identity of the bomb-makers.

Friday’s newspapers focused on the “miraculous” escape by
hundreds of commuters after the devices detonated without
causing any injuries, in stark contrast to the deadly attacks
two weeks ago that killed 56 people, including four bombers,
and wounded 700.

“Our lucky day,” said a banner headline in the Daily
Mirror. “Four bombs, three trains, one bus, zero deaths.”

But, any joy was tempered by the knowledge that the
attackers had managed to elude police and were still at large.

“Four suicide bombers on loose,” was the tabloid Sun’s
headline.

Passengers on at least two of the trains told of would-be
bombers fleeing after the explosions, which police said might
have been detonators going off but failing to trigger a bomb.

The explosions appeared to be an attempt to copy the July 7
attacks, when four young British Muslims detonated rucksack
bombs in three packed trains and a bus at morning rush hour.

“They had the same pattern and the same objective,” an
unnamed anti-terrorism official told the Guardian newspaper.

Security experts said it was still unclear why the devices
failed to explode properly.

“It could be they weren’t constructed properly, it could be
the explosives exceeded the age of their usefulness, or it
could have been just sloppy handling,” said Jim Ludwiczak,
president of Kentucky-based Blasting and Mining Consultants.

Another analyst, Professor Hans Michels, of Imperial
College, London, told the Times newspaper it was “extremely
improbable” that all four devices would have failed to explode.

“It may be that the object this time was not to kill people
but to cause chaos,” he said.

Police said on Friday that no one had been arrested in
connection with the blasts. Two men were released without
charge late on Thursday after being questioned, Scotland Yard
said.

While the blasts caused no injuries, police said one
passenger was treated in hospital for a suspected asthma
attack.

LUCKY ESCAPE

Security analysts said the attacks could have been
masterminded either by the same group responsible for the July
7 blasts or by less sophisticated sympathisers — maybe young,
disaffected Muslims.

“There is a resonance here,” police chief Ian Blair said,
but he cautioned it would take time to tell who was to blame.

He said some of the four “explosions or attempts at
explosions” seemed not to have gone off properly.

“This may represent a significant breakthrough,” he said.
“There is obviously forensic material at these scenes which may
be very helpful to us.” While police launched a manhunt, train
passengers told of their encounters with the would-be bombers.

One witness traveling on a train in west London said he
heard a bang like a gunshot and saw a young man sprawled on the
carriage floor with smoke coming from his rucksack.

“There was a man lying on the ground with his arms
outstretched in a Jesus Christ position, lying on top of a
medium-sized black and green rucksack,” passenger Abisha Moyo,
28, told the Daily Mail newspaper.

“I went up to him and said ‘are you alright, mate’, but he
just ignored me and kept his eyes shut.”

Others said they had chased a suspected bomber out of a
station in south London where a bag had exploded before losing
him.

“We saw a guy run off and people were running after him,
desperately trying to catch him,” an unnamed woman told the
Daily Telegraph.

As commuters prepared for a potentially difficult journey
to work on Friday, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, urged
Londoners to go about their business as usual.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has rejected accusations
that the invasion of Iraq has made Britain a target for Islamic
militants, has appealed for calm.