Details of a âthird waveâ terror plot to carry out multiple suicide attacks were disclosed to senior police commanders at an emergency Special Branch conference held at Scotland Yard last Wednesday. All police leave was cancelled and hundreds of officers were instructed to book into central London hotel rooms. Members of the third cell are said to be independent of the July 7 and July 21 terrorists but have âassociationsâ with some of the suspects who have been arrested in connection with the July 21 attacks. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the anti-terrorist branch, said that despite capturing the four suspected bombers and a fifth man linked to the cell âthe threat remains and is very realâ. Another officer, a member of the Yardâs firearms unit, which captured three of the suspected suicide bombers in two raids in west London, said: âWhat we did on Friday was just the tip of the iceberg. There is some big stuff coming in the next few months. Thereâs a big network thatâs got to be cracked.â
Osman, a 27-year-old asylum seeker from Ethiopia who has British citizenship, was arrested by Italian police at his brotherâs flat in Rome after an international manhunt. He is reported to have travelled to France via the Eurostar and then to Italy. Shortly before his arrest, Osman made one phone call to a Saudi Arabian mobile number. Osman is also said to have confessed almost immediately to Italian police. âYes, it is true, I was there on July 21. Iâd been given a rucksack,â he reportedly told police.
Osman is said to have claimed the attacks had been planned by Ibrahim after the two had met at a gym in Notting Hill, west London. He said they had acted independently, had no links to the July 7 attacks, in which 56 people died, and had been taken by surprise by the suicide bombings two weeks earlier. His group decided to carry out the attacks as a statement about the war in Iraq but was not linked to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorists. Contrary to some reports, he told his interrogators that the plotters did intend to explode their rucksacks but that they did not intend to kill anybody. He is reported to have said: âReligion had nothing to do with this. We watched films. We were shown videos with images of the war in Iraq. We were told we must do something big. Thatâs why we met.â Osman, who is suspected of the Shepherdâs Bush attack, claimed they had not meant to kill anyone. âI didnât want to kill, ours was supposed to be a demonstrative act,â he is said to have told interrogators. âWe planned to carry out an attack. We didnât want to kill, only to spread terror.â