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British police hunt fugitive London bombers

Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 23:33 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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