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Bombes were watched by british intelligence { May 11 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/mi5-watched-two-london-bombers/2006/05/11/1146940672303.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/mi5-watched-two-london-bombers/2006/05/11/1146940672303.html
MI5 'watched two London bombers'
May 11, 2006 - 7:55PM
Two men who carried out last year's July 7 attacks on London were watched by British security services but had not been viewed as urgent threats, a parliamentary committee reported today.
Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were among four British Muslims who set off bombs on three underground trains and a double-decker bus, killing 52 people and wounding more than 700.
One Australian, Sam Ly, 28, of Melbourne, was killed in the attacks and another nine Australians were injured.
The intelligence and security committee said Britain's Security Service - commonly known as MI5 - had come across the pair "on the peripheries of other surveillance and investigative operations".
"At that time, their identities were unknown to the Security Service and there was no appreciation of their subsequent significance," the committee's report into the attacks said.
"As there were more pressing priorities at the time, including the need to disrupt known plans to attack the UK, it was decided not to investigate them further or seek to identify them," the report said.
"In light of the other priority investigations being conducted and the limitations on Security Service resources, the decisions not to give greater investigative priority to these two individuals were understandable."
The report said the degree of al-Qaeda involvement in the attacks, if any, was unclear, and it had found no links between the July 7 attacks and those who mounted failed bombing attempts against the transit system two weeks later.
The Intelligence and Security Committee - a panel of lawmakers that meets in secret to scrutinise intelligence work - interviewed the heads of Britain's two spy agencies as part of its work.
The report said intelligence agents were aware of Khan, leader of the attacks, but had not confirmed his identity until after the blasts.
"It has become clear since the July attacks that Siddique Khan was the subject of reporting of which the Security Service was aware prior to July 2005. However, his true identity was not revealed in this reporting and it was only after the 7 July attacks that the Security Service was able to identify Khan as the subject of the reports," the report said. "It has become clear since 7 July that Khan was also referred to in reporting by detainees - from outside the UK - in early 2004.
"This reporting referred to men from the UK known only by pseudonyms who had travelled to Pakistan in 2003 and sought meetings with al-Qaeda figures."
The report confirmed that Britain's alert status had been downgraded from "severe general," the second-highest, to "substantial" on May 26.
"The main reason given ... was that there was no intelligence of a current credible plot to attack the UK at that time - ie a group with established capability and current intent," the report said.
The Home Office report has been widely seen as an alternative to a full public inquiry, which could have heard evidence in open sessions.
Survivors of the bombings are campaigning for a public inquiry similar to the US commission into the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, claiming the reports are not likely to address any mistakes made by government officials.
Reuters/AP
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