And so the rush to point the finger, and perhaps destablize an already "war situation" is most likely incorrect...I am reminded of an old saying- What you view is likely affecting what you see...eh?

Date:   7/9/2005 9:17:39 AM ( 19 y ago)

London Bombs Seen as Crude; Death Toll Rises to 49

Many people returned to work a bit anxious, they acknowledged, but grimly determined not to let terrorists get the better of them.
Crucial facts remained unknown in the case Friday evening. But senior British and American investigators said the morning rush-hour attacks in central London appeared to have been a low-tech operation, less expertly conceived than the cellphone-detonated train bombings in Madrid on March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.

Officials said at least 49 people had been killed and 700 wounded in the London bombings.

But they said the death toll might have been much higher had the attack been carried out by experts - given the large numbers of commuters crowded into the transit system.

A senior British investigator said Friday that the authorities initially feared "hundreds of people" might have died, and he said they were both surprised and relieved by the relatively low death toll.

There may be other signs that an inexperienced sleeper cell was at work, investigators said. The bombings have so far produced very few leads or possible suspects among the known extremist groups and cells in Britain and the rest of Europe. That could mean, the investigators said, that the bombers never crossed paths with the authorities and might not have been associated with known extremist groups in the past.

Some of the authorities cautioned, though, that the investigation was continuing and that the focus on a homegrown sleeper cell could shift as evidence developed. At this stage, said one senior British investigator who spoke on the condition of anonymity, there was not enough evidence to make "even a sensible guess" about who was responsible.

British and American officials said they were hopeful they would soon get a big break in the case, which would probably come from the forensic analysis at the scenes or the images captured by the closed-circuit television cameras, known as CCTV, installed throughout the London subway system.

Andy Trotter, deputy chief constable of British Transport Police, said a large-scale operation was under way to search the camera tapes for images of the suspects.

"If they weren't suicide bombers, then they must have got on and off these trains," he said. "That means their pictures can be grabbed from CCTV cameras. The Underground network is a CCTV-rich environment, and so this is going to be an intense investigation to look at the images."

Mr. Trotter said the images of the terrorists might also have been captured by cameras as they walked on the sidewalk entering or leaving the subway stations. Most central London streets are covered by cameras whose images are recorded on tape.

In an interview in Washington on Friday, Gary M. Bald, the F.B.I.'s chief of counterintelligence and counterterrorism, would not discuss specifics of the case, but he said the bureau had increased personnel in its London liaison office from about six people to about a dozen.

Referring to a possible attack on a mass transit system in Europe or the United States, he said, "We have known that terrorists groups possess the capability to carry out this type of attack," he said. "This has been a concern for some time."

As a painstaking search of the four crime scenes goes on, forensic experts are focusing on the twisted wreckage of one of London's signature double-decker buses, where one of the bombs exploded toward the rear of its second floor near Tavistock Square in the Bloomsbury section of London. Crime scene specialists are conducting DNA swabs in an attempt to identify the bus bomber by looking for a match in DNA samples in databases maintained by Britain and other countries.

The bus bombing is also considered by investigators to be another clue of an amateurish attack. They say they are almost certain that the blast was a mistimed explosion caused when the bomber accidentally detonated the device as it was being taken to its intended target.

Two wounded survivors have told a hospital doctor of a young man, possibly in his 20's, boarding the bus, but then frantically rummaging through a bag before it exploded.

Another passenger, Richard Jones, a 61-year-old computer consultant, told The Daily Mail that he had seen a man in his mid-20's become "extremely agitated" shortly after sitting down.

"This chap started digging down into his bag and getting back up," said Mr. Jones, who reported leaving the bus moments before it exploded. "He did it about a dozen times in two or three minutes and looked extremely agitated."


Many people returned to work a bit anxious, they acknowledged, but grimly determined not to let terrorists get the better of them.
The search for important evidence includes an effort to locate the bomber's remains and identification cards he might have carried.

The three other bombs were timed to detonate a short time after each train left its station. Senior police officials said Friday that they believed the bombers had left the package bombs on the floor of the trains, hopping off as the doors of the cars were closing. In each case, the bombs exploded about 100 to 150 yards down the tracks from the platform.

The Madrid bombings used small-size explosive devices, but they averaged a heavier 22 pounds each and were detonated within a three-minute period on 10 commuter trains. Each of the Madrid bombs was detonated by the use of the alarm function on cellphones.

A timed detonation system is believed to have been used in the London attacks. "We believe the explosives were detonated in London by some kind of timing device," a British official said, "though at this stage we cannot say if it was a mobile phone or not."

Although their most active theory is that the London bombings were planned and executed by a Britain-based sleeper cell, the authorities are also investigating whether European, North African or Pakistani elements played a role.

Investigators said they wanted to question Zeeshan Haider, 25, a British national arrested in May near Peshawar, in the restive North-West Frontier Province. He is being held by the Pakistani authorities.

"There is no evidence right now to link him up to the bombings in London, and everything seems presumptuous," a Pakistani intelligence official said. "But we believe that the guy is worth more than what little he has been telling us."

A senior European intelligence official, who was briefed by Scotland Yard, said, "The British believe that the cell has been in the U.K. for some time, assimilating with the society."

"Part of their thinking is the cell chose a predominantly Muslim neighborhood to launch these attacks," the official added. "The bombers might have thought it would make it easier for them to leave the stations and blend in."

More bodies were expected to be found in the subway tunnel near the King's Cross station. The police declined to say how many bodies remained in the tunnel, but it might be as many as a dozen, one official said.

The work was hampered by a partly collapsed tunnel that blocked access to the blown-apart train. Industrial-strength air coolers were brought into the tunnel to keep the air cool, officials said.

"It's an extremely difficult operation going on in difficult conditions down there," said Mr. Trotter, the deputy chief constable of the Transport Police. "The train is down a tunnel, and it is a very deep line at this point. We've had to bring in some heavy ventilation equipment. The operation involves both the recovery of bodies and also forensic work. It's just too early to say how long it's going to take."

Mr. Bald of the F.B.I. said there was as yet no indication from the London bombing that the United States was under increased threat of attack, although he cautioned that targets like New York, Washington and London, remained high on Al Qaeda's target list.

He said terrorism officials had long been aware of the possibility of a mass transit bombing, especially since the March 2004 attacks in Madrid.

"The attacks in London do not change the general threat we face here in the U.S.," Mr. Bald said. But he cautioned that the investigation might alter that conclusion. "What develops from the investigation of the London attacks could shed light on the threat situation in the U.S.," he said.


Don Van Natta Jr. reported from London for this article, and David Johnston from Washington. Stephen Grey contributed reporting from London.



 

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