| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| Investigators studying London boomer tape |
| 2005-09-04 |
| The teams investigating the July 7 bomb attacks on London were yesterday studying the video confession recorded by one of the four suicide bombers to determine whether al-Qaida's claim to direct responsibility was true. The tape from Mohammad Sidique Khan contained praise for al-Qaida leaders and vowed more attacks against British civilians in revenge for the government's alleged anti-Muslim foreign policy. The tape was sent to the Arabic broadcaster al-Jazeera, which played it on Thursday alongside messages from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, claiming responsibility for the London attacks that killed 52 people. Investigators examine video for al-Qaida link to bomb attacks Vikram Dodd and Richard Norton-Taylor Saturday September 3, 2005 The Guardian The teams investigating the July 7 bomb attacks on London were yesterday studying the video confession recorded by one of the four suicide bombers to determine whether al-Qaida's claim to direct responsibility was true. The tape from Mohammad Sidique Khan contained praise for al-Qaida leaders and vowed more attacks against British civilians in revenge for the government's alleged anti-Muslim foreign policy. The tape was sent to the Arabic broadcaster al-Jazeera, which played it on Thursday alongside messages from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, claiming responsibility for the London attacks that killed 52 people. Article continues Abdel Bari-Atwan, editor of the London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al Quds and an expert on al-Qaida, said the tapes showed the terrorist network had taken root among British Muslims. "It confirms that al-Qaida managed to penetrate some support of Muslim extremists in this country." Mr Atwan said the message from Zawahri on the tape was an attempt to claim Khan as a member of al-Qaida. "Zawahri is trying to say: 'He is our man. We groomed him. We threatened to take revenge and we managed to do so'." But British counter-terrorism officials were yesterday sceptical of a direct al-Qaida link, insisting there was nothing in the video to suggest that al-Qaida was more closely linked to the attacks than officials previously believed. "It leaves us in the same position," a senior source said. Counter-terrorism officials still hold the view that the plotters were "home-grown", and say there is no evidence of any "mastermind". A police source said of al-Qaida's claims of direct responsibility: "It doesn't have to be so", but said they did have to be evaluated, and added: "It makes it a bit more likely al-Qaida were directly involved." But Evan Kohlmann, a consultant to the US government on terrorism in Europe, said: "There is zero percent doubt this is al-Qaida." He said the Khan tape was produced by the al-Sahab video company, which is controlled by al-Qaida, and the claim of responsibility for the July 7 attacks was done in the same way as its admission of carrying out the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001. Mr Kohlmann said: "I find it a little bit depressing that people don't realise this is al-Qaida's calling card. It shows how little some understand about al-Qaida." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |