Bombers slipped through net of watching MI5
Ian Cobain, Richard Norton-Taylor and Rosie Cowan
The Guardian
__________
A lack of resources allowed the July 7 bombers to slip through the security net, according to two reports published yesterday, and police and the intelligence services are highly unlikely to be able to prevent all similar attacks in the future.
Two of the four suicide bombers had come to the attention of the security service, MI5, time and again, yet the reports' authors concluded that there was no reason for the authorities to have known that they posed a threat.
While one report urged greater cooperation with intelligence agencies overseas, it also concluded that it "seems highly unlikely that it will be possible to stop all attacks", even if the UK authorities were to become more "intrusive" in the way they carried out their responsibilities.
Despite media reports based on leaks prior to publication, which suggested that the group had no links to al-Qaida, the reports from the Home Office and the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) make clear that the four men were unlikely to have been acting unassisted.
The ISC report said the security service had come across two of the bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, a classroom assistant from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and Shezhad Tanweer, 22, from Leeds, while investigating other terrorism cases. They had also been observed in Pakistan, where it was "likely that they had some contact with al-Qaida figures", according to the committee.
They probably received expert bombmaking assistance from an unknown individual, and they also had a series of highly suspicious contacts with an unknown individual or individuals in Pakistan for several months before the bombings. However, 10 months after the attacks that killed 52 and injured more than 700, it is clear from the two reports that many questions remain unanswered.
Police and the security service still cannot be sure whether anyone else was involved, who they may have been, or the role that they may have played. In addition, the bombers probably carried out a test explosion but no one knows where or when.
May 12, 2006
Ian Cobain, Richard Norton-Taylor and Rosie Cowan
The Guardian
__________
A lack of resources allowed the July 7 bombers to slip through the security net, according to two reports published yesterday, and police and the intelligence services are highly unlikely to be able to prevent all similar attacks in the future.
Two of the four suicide bombers had come to the attention of the security service, MI5, time and again, yet the reports' authors concluded that there was no reason for the authorities to have known that they posed a threat.
While one report urged greater cooperation with intelligence agencies overseas, it also concluded that it "seems highly unlikely that it will be possible to stop all attacks", even if the UK authorities were to become more "intrusive" in the way they carried out their responsibilities.
Despite media reports based on leaks prior to publication, which suggested that the group had no links to al-Qaida, the reports from the Home Office and the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) make clear that the four men were unlikely to have been acting unassisted.
The ISC report said the security service had come across two of the bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, a classroom assistant from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and Shezhad Tanweer, 22, from Leeds, while investigating other terrorism cases. They had also been observed in Pakistan, where it was "likely that they had some contact with al-Qaida figures", according to the committee.
They probably received expert bombmaking assistance from an unknown individual, and they also had a series of highly suspicious contacts with an unknown individual or individuals in Pakistan for several months before the bombings. However, 10 months after the attacks that killed 52 and injured more than 700, it is clear from the two reports that many questions remain unanswered.
Police and the security service still cannot be sure whether anyone else was involved, who they may have been, or the role that they may have played. In addition, the bombers probably carried out a test explosion but no one knows where or when.
May 12, 2006
