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07/24/2005:

"Two bomb plots 'linked'"

Links have been uncovered between the two teams of bombers who have brought terror to the streets of London over the past two weeks, say security sources.

Police now believe some of the men they are pursuing for last week's abortive attacks - on Shepherd's Bush, Oval and Warren Street tube stations and on a No 26 bus in Hackney - attended a whitewater rafting trip at the same centre as two of the 7 July bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer.

This raises the distinct possibility that the two operations were connected as part of a larger plan to bring carnage to the capital.

Evidence discovered in the rucksacks left behind by the failed bombers led police to three addresses in London. When investigators cross-referenced them with the electoral register they discovered names that tallied with those of individuals who attended the outdoor adventure course in Snowdonia last summer.

Scotland Yard has con-firmed the explosive used in the 21 July bomb attempts bore a similarity to that used in the earlier attacks. Initial tests on a package found in bushes in Little Wormwood Scrubs, north-west London, yesterday show it may contain the same explosive.

The Observer understands that investigators are examining the possibility that the trip to Bala in North Wales was used as a bonding experience.

...Scotland Yard has con-firmed the explosive used in the 21 July bomb attempts bore a similarity to that used in the earlier attacks. Initial tests on a package found in bushes in Little Wormwood Scrubs, north-west London, yesterday show it may contain the same explosive.
Full: guardian.co.uk

Oy veh. A 'bonding experience.' I think the bumbling stupidity of this investigation is a convenient way of explaining away the numerous holes in this story, not least of which no 'credible' terrorist group has even claimed responsibility for these bombings. The irrationality of 'suicide bombers' is accepted unquestioningly, while any discussion of who might plan and execute terror in their own clear interest is completely absent. The same is true in Iraq. What self-respecting 'freedom fighter' is going to go around blowing up his own people?

Scotland Yard Challenged by Missteps in Bombing Inquiry
Scotland Yard's extraordinary reversal from assertions made just 24 hours earlier was the latest in a series of incomplete characterizations about the direction of the inquiry and, in some cases, public misstatements about the evidence. The missteps included statements about the timing of the bombs on July 7, whether the bombers in the initial attack had died with their bombs or were at large, and swiftly changing their assessments of certain suspects' importance.

The admission carries profound consequences for the Metropolitan Police's complex antiterrorist investigation, which police officials have characterized as the most difficult in Scotland Yard's history. It raised serious questions about the police's shoot-to-kill policy on suicide bombers and threatened officers' morale. More important, it could undermine public confidence in the police's handling of the case - a serious problem in a case where the public is being asked directly to participate in the investigation. The outrage has been strong in the Muslim community, one of the most crucial in the quest for identities and clues.

...At two consecutive news conferences, senior police officials inaccurately reported that the first bomb exploded at 8:51 a.m., on a train near Liverpool Street station, on the edge of the city's financial district. They said the second bomb exploded five minutes later, at 8:56 a.m., on a train at Russell Square station. And the third, they said, hit a train at 9:17 a.m. as it approached Edgware Road.

On the evening of July 8, cellphone video aired by the BBC showed that the bomb at Edgware Road had exploded at 8:51 a.m. - not at 9:17 a.m., as the police had said.

On July 9, the police acknowledged their mistake and revealed that the bombs had exploded within 50 seconds of each other. Their initial estimate of the times that the bombs exploded was mistakenly pegged to when the first emergency calls were placed at each subway station.

One of the most important questions, in the early days, was whether the attacks were launched by suicide bombers. If true, it would be a first in the history of Western Europe.

But for several days, the police denied repeated questions by reporters about whether the bombers had died in the attacks. It was not until July 12 that the police said they had identified the bombers, but did not release their names. Though their identities emerged gradually from other sources in the ensuing days, two days later, the police said only two suspected bombers had been formally identified. On July 15, Scotland Yard identified the four bombers who had died in the attacks.

The police have still steadfastly avoided calling the men suicide bombers, possibly because of a live theory inside Scotland Yard that the men were duped into carrying the bombs on board the trains.

There was also much interest in the makeup of the bombs, as it is one of the most important forensic clues that investigators have to help them solve a case. On July 9, two days after the bombings, the Metropolitan Police made a preliminary conclusion that the bombs were of "military grade." They passed the information on to their counterparts in Europe and the United States, and some news organizations reported it.

But within days, Scotland Yard determined that the bombs were powerful but crude, homemade explosive devices made with TATP, a mixture of widely available chemicals, including acetone, hydrogen peroxide and mineral acid.

A senior Scotland Yard official said Saturday the police's initial assessment was not released publicly by the police, and he stressed that it was only a tentative conclusion leaked to the press by others. "It's true our assessment changed," the official said, "but we can't really be held to account for the premature announcements made by others."

As police reversed their earlier conclusion about the slain man's connection to the inquiry, they also retreated from an optimistic assessment of another aspect of the investigation.

On Friday night, the police arrested two men held under the Terrorism Act, a development that they said was "promising." One senior police official said one of the suspects might be one of the would-be suicide bombers who had attempted to carry out Thursday's attacks.

But by late Saturday evening, police officials gloomily cautioned reporters that the two men may not be the would-be suicide bombers after all.

For his part, Sir Ian, the police commissioner, said nothing about the arrests or the man shot by police officers the day before. In brief remarks to reporters outside Scotland Yard on Saturday, he hailed the men and women conducting the investigation, saying they were exhausted but their spirits remained high. And he praised the investigators for their hard work and the "fast progress" they had made in the investigation.