police 'set to name bomber'

Police 'set to name bomber'
By staff writers and wires
July 12, 2005
From:

London / AFP
Manhunt ... Scotland Yard chief Ian Blair briefs media / AFP

BRITISH police were on the verge of identifying one person they believed was involved in last week's London terror attack, with investigators also finding fingerprints on bomb materials from the blasts that left at least 52 people dead, according to separate reports.
The news comes as Australia's UK High Commissioner, Richard Alston, confirmed one of the Australians critically injured in the blasts had undergone amputations.

South Australian Gillian Hicks had injuries involving unspecified amputations but is in a stable condition, Mr Alston said on Channel 9.

Prime Minister John Howard said earlier that at least one Australian may be entombed underneath King's Cross Station, with two others caught in the blasts fighting for their lives.

Mr Howard said while the Government had yet to receive information confirming any Australian deaths, he could not rule out a fatality.

"There is always the possibility, with bodies still to be recovered from the King's Cross tunnel, that there could be more Australian victims," he said.

Vital clue

A European official involved in the probe said progress had been made towards naming the person responsible for Thursday's bus blast, the UK Financial Times newspaper reported.

The bus explosion was one of four co-ordinated bombings in which at least 52 people were killed.

The unnamed official told the paper: "I think we are going to see photographs of one or more suspects being posted within days."

Investigators have also found fingerprints on bomb materials from the attacks, US TV network NBC reported today.

It said at least four operatives were believed to have been involved.

The network cited a former senior US official in its report.

NBC said British intelligence had told US counterparts that investigators had picked up fingerprints from bomb materials, but they were unsure if they belonged to the bombers.

Law enforcement officials said investigators suspected the bombers congregated at King's Cross station, then set out to plant the devices, NBC reported.

Separately, The Times newspaper reported forensic pathologists were investigating two bodies found inside the bus to see whether one of them might have been the bomber.

"There are two bodies which have to be examined in great detail because they appear to have been holding the bomb or sitting on top of it," a "senior police source" said.

"One of those might turn out to be the bomber."

Online warning

Earlier, it was revealed al-Qaeda threatened to launch attacks in Europe in an internet warning posted five weeks before the London terrorist bombings that British intelligence services claimed to have no knowledge about.

But the Spanish secret service only forwarded the May 29 message to Britain's MI5 spy agency at the weekend - two days after the attacks.

The Spanish national intelligence centre, called CNI, sent a copy of the Arabic-language message - signed by "Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades - European division" - on Saturday to MI5, according to Spain's El Mundo newspaper.

The same group - named after an al-Qaeda leader who was killed in Afghanistan - claimed responsibility for the Madrid train bombings of March 11 last year, in which 191 people died, and twin bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed 63 people.

The message, entitled "Letter to mujahedeen in Europe", states in part: "We now call on the mujahedeen around the world to launch the expected attack". Spanish intelligence officials believe this was a reference to the London attacks.

The revelation came as it emerged the severed head of a man had been found near the bus torn apart at Tavestock Place in the London bombings, strengthening suspicions that a suicide bomber was behind the blast. Suicide attacks in Israel have shown that a head is often the only remnant of a suicide bomber.

London's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that the head found near the bus had almost certainly been blown out of the upper deck, where a rucksack-sized bomb is believed to have been planted on a seat.

One passenger who got off the bus just before the explosion had noticed a nervous young man behaving oddly on the bus and frequently dipping into a bag at his feet.

Investigators are convinced that three other terrorists escaped after leaving bombs on three Underground trains about 47 minutes before the bus blast.

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

* THE two first confirmed victims of the attacks have been formally named as Susan Levy, a 53-year-old mother of two from Hertfordshire, north of London, and Gladys Wundowa, 51, who worked for University College London as a cleaner. Levy is believed to have died in the deadliest blast, on a train travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square, while Wundowa was killed on the bus.

* BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday rejected Opposition calls for an inquiry into whether the bombings could have been prevented, saying it would disrupt the hunt for perpetrators.

* BRITAIN's terrorism threat status was yesterday raised to its highest level yet, as police believe the rush-hour bombers are alive and planning another attack.