| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| 7/7 ringleader 'had direct link with terror cell' |
| 2006-05-07 |
| Britain's intelligence services will face a fresh barrage of criticism on Thursday when a parliamentary committee publishes a report into the London terror attacks that shows a direct link between the bombers' ringleader and a terrorist cell. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has been studying the lessons of the 7 July bombings and will make wide-ranging recommendations on how the security services should adapt to the changing face of terrorism. Its report will be published alongside the government's official account into the bombings, which confirms that the four bombers - all from the north of England - carried out a cheap and simple plot to bomb London using techniques they had found on the internet. The ISC has found there was a direct link between the bombers' ringleader, Sidique Khan, who killed six people when he blew himself up on a tube train at Edgware Road, and a terrorist cell that had been under surveillance by the security services. The revelation will prove damaging. Previously it was believed Khan was linked to the cell only through a third party. That he had direct links to the group under surveillance raises questions over why he was not placed under closer supervision. After the London bombings, it emerged that Khan travelled to Pakistan, where he met with radical Muslim groups. But the committee heard that, though the intelligence agencies had been monitoring Khan in the UK, they did not believe him to be a terrorist threat, instead thinking he was intent on committing fraud. The ISC report also looks at how the Foreign Office deals with warnings from overseas of potential attacks. It raises questions over the paucity of intelligence-sharing between British and Pakistani intelligence services. According to those familiar with its contents, the report will also say that intelligence failures surrounding the London bombings were chiefly down to a lack of resources. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #1 Goes to the culture of watching rather than acting. In New York City all sorts of crime went down when the police started enforcing laws against subway turn-stile jumping and grafitti. I think it's called something like the Broken Window Theory of law enforcement. Perhaps if British police were allowed to actually arrest miscreants, the really bad guys would start to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. :-( |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-07 14:16 |