thedrifter
07-13-05, 09:07 AM
4 bomb suspects born in Britain
By Paul Martin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 13, 2005
LONDON -- Police said yesterday they had identified four British-born men, all thought to be of Pakistani origin, as the perpetrators of last week's terror outrage in London.
All four are thought to have died in the attacks, officials said, while declining to describe them as "suicide bombers." Another man was in custody after a search of the bombing suspects' homes in the northern city of Leeds.
If confirmed as suicide bombings, the attacks would be the first of their kind in Western Europe.
Other officials said on the condition of anonymity that police still are searching airline records based on the suspicion that the mastermind fled Britain before the bombings, which killed at least 52 persons.
Authorities said they think more members of the cell remain at large and could be primed for another terrorist strike.
At dawn yesterday, police and army units raided homes where the bombing suspects had lived in or around Leeds, a stronghold of Pakistani Muslims. The man arrested there was said to be a close relative of one of the bombing suspects.
Police evacuated more than 500 people from neighboring homes after finding bomb-making materials inside one house, security sources said.
They also said "significant" quantities of explosives had been found in a rental car left at a railroad station in Luton, from where the suspects boarded a train to London.
The four men were videotaped on closed-circuit television cameras at King's Cross station 20 minutes before bombs exploded on three subway trains, counterterrorism police Chief Peter Clarke said at a press conference yesterday.
Passengers arriving at King's Cross on trains from the north can descend directly from the station into the subway system.
Mr. Clarke also revealed that police found personal documents bearing the names of three of the four men close to subway seats where bombs exploded. A fourth bomb exploded about 45 minutes later on a bus.
Parents of the man suspected in the bus bombing reported him missing later that day. Police surmised that he carried the bomb onto the bus after he failed to board a subway train, perhaps because the system had already been shut down by the other attacks.
In Leeds, neighbors of one of the suspects expressed the community's shock.
"They were a nice family bringing their kids up like all families bring their kids up," one said.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives were rapidly giving up hope yesterday of finding any more survivors as authorities formally identified more of the dead, Associated Press reported.
"We're waiting to hear what we already know in our hearts to be fact," said the Rev. Tim Daplyn, whose 26-year-old niece, Elizabeth, hasn't been heard from since Thursday's bombings. 'The tense of the language we are using to describe her has changed to 'was' rather than 'is.'?"
Although the family of Anthony Fatayi-Williams, 26, now presumes he was among the 13 persons killed in the bus attack, "we just cannot accept what has happened," a friend, Shiyan Smith, said yesterday as he placed flowers on the steps of a nearby church.
Others refused to believe the worst.
"We're not giving up hope," said Richard Deer, whose Polish-born girlfriend, Karolina Gluck, 29, was thought to have been traveling on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Russell Square -- the site of the worst of the blasts, which killed at least 21 persons.
"She's a beautiful woman, and we're asking why," Mr. Deer said.
Police said they had positively identified the body of one of the train bombers but had extracted no clues from the body of another, either because it was destroyed or remained trapped within the wreckage 15 stories below King's Cross station. Bodies are still being recovered from that site.
Reporters in Northern England identified one of the suspects as Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who lived in a large, neat and well-kept family home in Leeds. Another suspect was said by local reporters to be Hasib Hussein, 18, who lived with his parents in Leeds.
"This is a horrifying development," said one of the country's foremost moderate Muslim leaders, Zaki Badawi. "Suicide bombings are far more dangerous than those who want to kill without themselves being killed. Now no city in Britain is safe."
One of the terrorist bodies found by police apparently had been decapitated. Security sources said that if this is confirmed, it would point to the bomber having worn a suicide vest or having clutched his bomb close to his torso, matching a pattern commonly seen in suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq.
British police were calling for increased authority to track down e-mail -- by requiring Internet cafes to store electronic communications and cell phone operators to record all calls.
"We have to be able to follow [these communications] back," said Ian Blair, the newly appointed chief of the Metropolitan Police.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Ellie
By Paul Martin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 13, 2005
LONDON -- Police said yesterday they had identified four British-born men, all thought to be of Pakistani origin, as the perpetrators of last week's terror outrage in London.
All four are thought to have died in the attacks, officials said, while declining to describe them as "suicide bombers." Another man was in custody after a search of the bombing suspects' homes in the northern city of Leeds.
If confirmed as suicide bombings, the attacks would be the first of their kind in Western Europe.
Other officials said on the condition of anonymity that police still are searching airline records based on the suspicion that the mastermind fled Britain before the bombings, which killed at least 52 persons.
Authorities said they think more members of the cell remain at large and could be primed for another terrorist strike.
At dawn yesterday, police and army units raided homes where the bombing suspects had lived in or around Leeds, a stronghold of Pakistani Muslims. The man arrested there was said to be a close relative of one of the bombing suspects.
Police evacuated more than 500 people from neighboring homes after finding bomb-making materials inside one house, security sources said.
They also said "significant" quantities of explosives had been found in a rental car left at a railroad station in Luton, from where the suspects boarded a train to London.
The four men were videotaped on closed-circuit television cameras at King's Cross station 20 minutes before bombs exploded on three subway trains, counterterrorism police Chief Peter Clarke said at a press conference yesterday.
Passengers arriving at King's Cross on trains from the north can descend directly from the station into the subway system.
Mr. Clarke also revealed that police found personal documents bearing the names of three of the four men close to subway seats where bombs exploded. A fourth bomb exploded about 45 minutes later on a bus.
Parents of the man suspected in the bus bombing reported him missing later that day. Police surmised that he carried the bomb onto the bus after he failed to board a subway train, perhaps because the system had already been shut down by the other attacks.
In Leeds, neighbors of one of the suspects expressed the community's shock.
"They were a nice family bringing their kids up like all families bring their kids up," one said.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives were rapidly giving up hope yesterday of finding any more survivors as authorities formally identified more of the dead, Associated Press reported.
"We're waiting to hear what we already know in our hearts to be fact," said the Rev. Tim Daplyn, whose 26-year-old niece, Elizabeth, hasn't been heard from since Thursday's bombings. 'The tense of the language we are using to describe her has changed to 'was' rather than 'is.'?"
Although the family of Anthony Fatayi-Williams, 26, now presumes he was among the 13 persons killed in the bus attack, "we just cannot accept what has happened," a friend, Shiyan Smith, said yesterday as he placed flowers on the steps of a nearby church.
Others refused to believe the worst.
"We're not giving up hope," said Richard Deer, whose Polish-born girlfriend, Karolina Gluck, 29, was thought to have been traveling on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Russell Square -- the site of the worst of the blasts, which killed at least 21 persons.
"She's a beautiful woman, and we're asking why," Mr. Deer said.
Police said they had positively identified the body of one of the train bombers but had extracted no clues from the body of another, either because it was destroyed or remained trapped within the wreckage 15 stories below King's Cross station. Bodies are still being recovered from that site.
Reporters in Northern England identified one of the suspects as Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who lived in a large, neat and well-kept family home in Leeds. Another suspect was said by local reporters to be Hasib Hussein, 18, who lived with his parents in Leeds.
"This is a horrifying development," said one of the country's foremost moderate Muslim leaders, Zaki Badawi. "Suicide bombings are far more dangerous than those who want to kill without themselves being killed. Now no city in Britain is safe."
One of the terrorist bodies found by police apparently had been decapitated. Security sources said that if this is confirmed, it would point to the bomber having worn a suicide vest or having clutched his bomb close to his torso, matching a pattern commonly seen in suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq.
British police were calling for increased authority to track down e-mail -- by requiring Internet cafes to store electronic communications and cell phone operators to record all calls.
"We have to be able to follow [these communications] back," said Ian Blair, the newly appointed chief of the Metropolitan Police.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Ellie