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Blair says foot soldiers work for alqaeda { July 15 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw1121418181371B226http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw1121418181371B226
UK police confident of al-Qaeda link to bombs
July 15 2005 at 11:33AM
By Paul Majendie
London - Detectives are confident they can find an al-Qaeda link to the British bombers who killed 54 people in western Europe's first suicide attack, London Police Commissioner Ian Blair said on Friday.
Warning that another attack is "a strong possibility," Blair said the hunt is now on for the financiers and bomb makers who supplied the young killers in London's deadliest peacetime bomb attack.
Four British-born Muslims, the youngest only 18, blew themselves up in separate attacks last Thursday on three underground trains and a bus during the morning rush hour.
Three came from the northern city of Leeds, where police have since discovered large quantities of explosives in properties connected with the bombers.
Media reports that the explosives were similar to those used in other attacks linked to al-Qaeda were described by Blair as "a reasonably fair picture."
Blair also said it was time for Muslim leaders in Britain to stop being in denial about "lunatic fringe" extremists who convert impressionable youngsters.
"What we expect to find at some stage is that there is a clear al-Qaeda link, a clear al-Qaeda approach," Blair told BBC Radio.
Describing the four bombers who died in the blast as "foot soldiers", Blair said: "What we have got to find is who encouraged them, who trained them, who is the chemist."
"Al-Qaeda does not act like some classic Graham Greene cell. It has very loose affiliations and we have got to find the bankers, the chemists and the trainers, all the people who are assisting in this."
He confirmed the investigation had spread around the world, saying: "There is a Pakistan connection and there are also connections in other countries." He would not be more specific.
Blair called the bombings the greatest single act of mass murder in modern English history.
The BBC, citing sources close to the investigation, said the explosive used was the highly unstable TATP (triacetone triperoxide), made from freely available ingredients.
It said the explosives, found in raids in the city of Leeds, are thought to be similar to materials used by British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid who tried to blow up a transatlantic flight in 2001 with explosives concealed in his shoes.
It said police are hunting the mastermind behind the London bombing and an Egyptian chemistry student who has fled his Leeds home.
The BBC said a man with al-Qaeda links on a watch list had entered Britain two weeks ago and left a day before the bombings.
He was not put under surveillance because he was not considered a high risk. "With this particular man, there is nothing at the moment that links him directly," Blair said.
When asked about the overall accuracy of the BBC report, Blair said it was "a reasonably fair picture."
Blair felt it was vital that leaders of the 1,6 million Muslims in Britain helped to root out extremism.
"The crucial issue now is can we engage with the community in Britain so that they move from being fairly close to denial about this into a situation in which they really engage with us?
"We need them to tell us who the preachers of hate really are, who are the recruiters of the vulnerable, what changes of pattern occurred in people's behaviour."
Police admit they are puzzled about the last 81 minutes in the life of Hasib Hussain, captured on grainy CCTV images on the day of the bombings.
At 7.20am he was caught on film at Luton station, north of London, wearing a casual jacket and jeans with a bomb in the rucksack on his back. He was seen joking with the three other bombers who then went on to target underground trains.
Police are still baffled about why he may have changed his original target and instead blew up a bus.
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