Four London bomb suspects identified

[sabra]

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http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-12T194116Z_01_FOR235202_RTRUKOC_0_SECURITY-BRITAIN.xml

Four London bomb suspects identified
Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:41 PM BST



By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Police identified four men on Tuesday whom they suspected of carrying out last week's bombings, raising the prospect that western Europe may have suffered its first suicide attack.

Police said it was "very likely" that one suspect had died in the blasts on London's transport network, which killed at least 52 people and injured 700, and were trying to work out if all four bombers had blown themselves up deliberately.

If they did, it would be the first time that suicide bombers, who have wreaked carnage from the streets of New York to Israel and Iraq, have struck in western Europe.

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[uppityperson]

1. No names or info other than 3/4 from West Yorkshire, all Brits

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4676861.stm

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. One name given in this report by neighbours

Local residents said one of the people living at 51 Colwyn Road was 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer. Some people said Mr Tanweer had not been seen for a number of days.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1691385,00.html

[uppityperson]

7. He's a suspect, missing, friend/family deny he'd do it, article quotes

Belongings found in the wreckage. Might it be possible he got blown up as a victim and happens to be top of the list due to religion and ethnicity?
more clips from article:
"Mr Mohammed said his friend was a good Muslim with no connection to any form of radical or extreme group."
"A 21-year-old local man, speaking at the scene near Colwyn Road, said that he believed that a group of his friends who are all young British-born Pakistani men in their early twenties had been arrested."

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. There's a fair amount of circumstantial evidence

The report on BBC TV's Newsnight (it will be online in an hour or so) seemed to say the 4 men were one group of suspects from fairly early on for some reason (one, I think this 22 year old, was reported missing on Thursday - perhaps they quickly found out his friends were missing too) , and it was when they were spotted, all wearing rucksacks, at King's Cross together on the CCTV that it became highly likely (they also said the houses were under surveillance before they were raided). They now say explosives have been found at one house, which, if correct, means at least one of the group seems involved.

There are still questions: for instance, they also say they've found explosives in the car at Luton station (and haven't managed to remove them yet - and they want to examine the car for forensics). But if all 4 were suicide bombers, why leave explosives in the car (and the house, for that matter)? And what about the earlier reports that remains of timing mechanisms had been found?

[daleo]

2. Why all the talk about timers earlier, then?

Seriously, did they give an explanation yet? Were the timers just some luckless commuters watches? Or did the suicide bombers have a timer rigged up, just in case they forgot to hit the button? The public deserves some explanation for these shifting stories.

[dolgoruky]

3. Mission Accomplished?

Ooops! Looks like Iraq was the wrong target. Now we know the suicide bombers were from Leeds, does this mean Bush and Blair will invade West Yorkshire?

[osaMABUSh]

4. When * said "we'll fight them over there" he meant

anywhere but the USA

[CJCRANE]

6. I so wish

the neocons had never

a) let 9/11 happen which made Al-Qaeda seem a lot more powerful
b) invade Iraq which just fuelled the hatred that powers Al-Qaeda

They have simply succeeded in creating a much bigger version of the Israel/Palestine conflict.

[confludemocrat]

8. Isn't a Brit gvt supposed to "fall" when it fails security this badly?

Page out of Bush's and U.S.'s book: no one gets axed, no great public outcry, no consequences.

We know how our country has failed itself post 9/11, do Brits even with 90% against the war, just sit on their hands?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. You'd have to know the circumstances

If the bombers were British citizens, then the main failing may have been when the explosive got to them. You can't expect to infiltrate every single cell of a few people with undercover agents.