Intelligence

July 31, 2005

London faces lockdown to thwart third terror strike

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Daniel McGrory and Sean O’Neill
THOUSANDS of police marksmen will be on London’s streets and rooftops again today after warnings that another team of suicide bombers is plotting a third attack on the capital.

The new group is believed to be made up of British Muslims who were understood to be close to staging an attack on the Underground network last week. According to security sources the men are thought to be of Pakistani origin but born and brought up in this country. They have links with the Leeds-based terrorist cell that staged the July 7 attacks, in which 52 innocent people died.

Even with the transport system so heavily guarded, police and intelligence sources believe that the bombers are intent on once more attacking London’s bus and Underground network. Another multiple suicide strike is also intended to demonstrate how the network can call on more recruits. The men are said to have access to explosives.

US security sources said yesterday that this third group of would-be bombers met at Finsbury Park mosque in North London, where some of the July 7 terrorists are also known to have stayed. There are reports that this team originally planned to strike last Thursday, which is why more than 6,000 police, half of them armed, were present at Underground stations. Scotland Yard said at the time that this exercise, the biggest since the Second World War, was to test their resources and reassure a nervous public.

As commuters return to work today police chiefs say that the arrest of five suspected bombers in house raids in Birmingham, London and Rome has not ended this threat. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the anti-terrorist branch, said: “The threat remains and is very real.”

There is concern among ministers and police at how long officers can continue such an intensive operation to “lock down” London while a threat remains. Although reinforcements have been brought in and leave has been cancelled, resources are stretched to keep up the guard on the capital, which is costing £500,000 a day. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, admitted that his officers were “very, very tired”.

While the priority is to thwart another strike, police are still investigating links between the attacks on July 7 and the botched operation a fortnight later. They are also hunting for what officers describe as “key logistical players” behind the attacks.

Seven more people — six men and a woman — were arrested in raids in Brighton yesterday, bringing the number of people under arrest in Britain to 18. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “This is a further indication of the fact this is a fast-moving investigation and we continue to progress. We are searching for other people in connection with this ongoing inquiry.

“There were quite a few other people involved in the incidents of the 7th and the 21st. It’s extremely likely there will be other people involved in harbouring, financing and making the devices.”

The major link between the two sets of bombers is that the alleged leaders of both groups attended Finsbury Park mosque. Experts are studying similarities between the bombs used on July 7 and 21.

Anti-terrorism officers are still questioning four of the failed bombers at Paddington Green police station while a fifth member of the team is being interrogated in Rome.

Hussain Osman, who tried to blow up a Tube train at Shepherds Bush, told Italian police that the devices were only meant to scare passengers, not injure them. Scotland Yard dismissed that claim as “nonsense”.

The devices, hidden in rucksacks, were studded with razor sharp nails and only failed to explode because of a clumsy mistake by the bombmaker. Sir Ian Blair said that the bombs were designed to kill and that London had a lucky escape.

Ethiopian-born Hussain, 27, who has a British passport, claimed that the plot was orchestrated by another of those arrested on Friday, Muktar Said-Ibrahim. Hussain said that he had been recruited in an underground gym in Notting Hill.

Immigration officials are trying to find out how he managed to slip out of Waterloo station on a Eurostar train to Paris and make way to Italy where he met his brother, who lives in Rome. Officials want to know why Hussain, who says his real name is Hamdi Isaac and who has Italian citizenship, came to Britain posing as a Somali asylum-seeker in 1996.

There were reports last night that Muktar Said-Ibrahim, the suspected ringleader of the July 21 plot, was seen in Rome several weeks before the failed attacks. A mother and daughter living downstairs from the suburban flat where Hussain Osman was arrested on Friday, said that they had recognised Said-Ibrahim from footage of his arrest in London.

Two of Hussain’s brothers who live in Italy are also being held. One is accused of sheltering him; the second was picked up yesterday in the northern town of Brescia.

Italian police say they are using Hussain’s phone records to unpick the international network that has been helping him. Alfredo Mantovano, an Interior Ministry official, said that the network “confirms the presence in our country of autonomous Islamic cells . . . which could represent a concrete threat.” Italy is worried that it is the next target for Islamic terrorists.

July 31, 2005 at 10:59 PM in Current Terrorism, Echelon | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Suspect 'tracked by phone calls'

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Suspect 'tracked by phone calls'

Italian investigators say police used cell phone records to track down one of the suspects in the failed suicide bombings in London on 21 July.

Osman Hussain was arrested on Friday in his brother's flat on the outskirts of the Italian capital, Rome.

He was traced using call records from two cell phone numbers, supplied to the Italians by UK police.

Police believe he travelled by train across Europe from London via Paris, Milan and Bologna.

Osman Hussain is wanted in the UK over the attack on Shepherd's Bush underground station.

Investigators quoted by Corriere della Sera newspaper said that his real name is Hamdi Isaac and that he may have been born in Ethiopia or Eritrea, rather than Somalia as previously thought.

No panic

The suspect's constant use of cell phones betrayed his attempt to find refuge. As well as calling his brother in Rome, he talked to his father who lives in Brescia, in northern Italy.

The suspect, who speaks good Italian, told investigators that he was brought up in Italy after his family sought asylum from Somalia when he was a child.

An unnamed Italian security officer told La Stampa newspaper that police discovered the suspect's whereabouts two days ago.

Police show pictures of suspect Osman Hussein
The man obeyed: first he got down on his knees, then he placed his hands on his head... finally he was handcuffed
Italian security officer
La Stampa

"We went to the area, to take a look around the neighbourhood, to work out what kind of traps or pitfalls there might be," he said.

Italian Central Security Operations (NOCS) officers then approached the brother, who gave them a description of his flat and the door keys.

On the day of the raid, the building was surrounded with snipers and a number of ambulances were on site.

A team of four armed security agents climbed the stairs to the flat, followed by more police.

When officers entered the flat, they found the suspect on a sofa in the living room and told him in English to get down on his knees.

"The man obeyed: first he got down on his knees, then he placed his hands on his head, he allowed himself to be searched, and finally he was handcuffed," the officer told the paper.

"He did not allow himself to panic."

The flat was then searched for traps. Computers and hard-drives were taken away to be analysed.

The suspect has been co-operating with investigators, who he apparently told that he had no intention of carrying out any terrorist activities in Italy.

A phone centre and internet cafe run by his brother near Rome's Termini railway station is also being searched by Italian police.

July 31, 2005 at 08:30 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Seven held in anti-terror raids

BBC NEWS | UK | Seven held in anti-terror raids

Police investigating the failed bomb attacks in London on 21 July have arrested six men and a woman after two raids in Brighton.

Scotland Yard said no armed officers were involved in the Sussex raids.

The arrests bring to 19 the number of people held in connection with the attempted attacks, including the four suspected would-be bombers.

Commons leader Geoff Hoon says ministers will investigate how one was able to leave the UK after the attacks.

Ethiopian-born Osman Hussain, 27, who has a British passport, is believed to have left London Waterloo on a Eurostar train on 26 July, travelling to Paris and Milan before arriving in Rome.

He is suspected of trying to blow up a train near Shepherd's Bush station in west London.

Speaking on the BBC, Mr Hoon said extra passport checks are being considered at departure points from the UK. The Tories said immediate action on border controls was "vital".

A Eurostar spokesman said that there is no permanent point manned by UK officials, but checks are implemented at times of heightened security.

The Home Office said immigration officials were in place at all British departure points from 7 July to 17 July. They were reinstated from 21 July.

Sussex raids

Officers from Sussex police and Scotland Yard raided the two residential addresses at 0830 BST on Sunday.

All of those arrested were detained at one property - a first floor flat in a building known as Fairways in the west of the city.

They are being held under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, or harbouring fugitives. They are being questioned at a Brighton police station.

Searches are continuing at both the raided addresses. Police said there was no danger to the public in the surrounding area.

Since the arrests on Friday of those suspected of carrying out the failed bombings, police are focusing on finding those who helped plan and finance the attacks, as well as those of 7 July.

But a police spokeswoman earlier played down claims that officers were hunting a third cell poised to strike.

"We are searching for other people in connection with this ongoing inquiry. We have never spoken about a third cell.

"There were quite a few other people involved in the incidents of the 7th and the 21st. It's extremely likely there will be other people involved in harbouring, financing and making the devices."

Police have also been allowed extra time to question Yasin Hassan Omar, the man suspected to trying to blow up a train between Oxford Circus and Warren Street.

He can be questioned until Wednesday. He was arrested in Birmingham on 27 July.

Suspects can be held for a maximum of 14 days under the anti-terror laws, before they must be charged or released.

A man arrested on Sunday under the Terrorism Act at Stockport train station has been released without charge.

A spokesman said the arrest was not connected with any other inquiry at this stage.

In other recent developments:

* Italian police arrest a brother of Osman Hussain, named as Fati Isaac, in Brescia, in northern Italy on Sunday, news agency ANSA said. Another brother, Remzi Isaac, was held on Friday
* Osman Hussain appeared before an extradition hearing in Rome on Saturday. His court-appointed lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa suggested he would fight being returned to the UK
* Yasin Hassan Omar, Muktar Said Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, the other men suspected of carrying out the attempted attacks on 21 July, are being questioned in London
* A fifth suspect named as a brother of Ramzi Mohammed, also arrested during Friday's raids, is also being questioned. Police forensic teams are still searching the two addresses raided
* Teams are also studying items seized from other addresses in London and Birmingham

1: Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, wanted over bomb attempt on a Tube near Warren Street, arrested in Birmingham
2: Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, suspected of attempting to bomb a No 26 bus in Shoreditch, arrested in North Kensington, London
3: Ramzi Mohammed, wanted over failed attempt to bomb a Tube near Oval, arrested in North Kensington, London
4. Osman Hussain, 27 (also known as Hamdi Isaac) wanted over the Shepherd's Bush attack, arrested in Rome

July 31, 2005 at 08:29 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

July 30, 2005

France expels 'radical preacher'

BBC NEWS | Europe | France expels 'radical preacher'

France has deported a radical Islamist preacher from Algeria said to have given pro-jihad speeches in a mosque in north-east Paris.

Reda Ameuroud, 35, was sent back to Algeria on a ship from Marseille.

The French interior ministry said it is planning to expel 10 more radical Islamists in August.

Mr Ameuroud's brother, Abderahmane, 27, was sentenced to seven years in prison in May for helping two Tunisians who killed an Afghan commander in 2001.

Abderahmane Ameuroud, who has been permanently banned from French territory, is also suspected of involvement in the training of would-be jihadists in the forest of Fontainebleau, west of Paris.

The deportation "has been carried out without incident," said a ministry official.

Crackdown

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday told the daily Le Parisien that a man of Algerian descent who had spoken "heinous words" against France was about to be expelled.

Mr Ameuroud is believed to be a member of the radical Salafist movement.

France is cracking down on extremists who preach violence in the wake of London's 7 July bombing.

France has expelled several people since the beginning of the year, including one imam.

Earlier in July, after a meeting with his counterpart in Madrid, Mr Sarkozy said France did not have to tolerate radical preaching "which on the pretext that it is happening in a place of worship calls for hate and murder".

"Those who persist in this way will systematically be the object of an expulsion procedure," he added.

July 30, 2005 at 11:14 PM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Key No 10 aides were split over war

Key No 10 aides were split over war - Sunday Times - Times Online

Robert Winnett, Whitehall Correspondent
THE SPLIT over the Iraq war, which ran through the Labour party, reached into Tony Blair’s innermost circle, according to an updated biography of the prime minister.

Key Downing Street advisers including Alastair Campbell, former director of communications, and Baroness Morgan, former director of political and government relations, are revealed to have had “private reservations” about the prime minister’s strategy.

The disclosures have been made by Blair’s biographer Anthony Seldon, who has benefited from insider accounts that the government is now seeking to suppress.

The disclosures have been made by Blair’s biographer Anthony Seldon, who has benefited from insider accounts that the government is now seeking to suppress.

At the outbreak of war, a gung-ho attitude seemed to pervade Downing Street. According to an interview with Morgan: “. . . he (Blair) wanted big maps on the wall of the den (Blair’s office) so he could follow the progress of the troops. We wouldn’t let him. He really would have liked a sandpit with tanks.”

Seldon is understood to have had access to the private unpublished papers of key officials. Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador in Washington; Lance Price, former deputy to Campbell at Downing Street; and Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations and then special envoy to Iraq, are all understood to have kept detailed records and were all interviewed by Seldon.

The updated version of Seldon’s biography of Blair draws heavily on their revelatory material — the publication of which Whitehall officials are now attempting to block.

The Cabinet Office has halted Price’s plans to publish his memoirs while Greenstock’s forthcoming book is to be edited before publication. Meyer intends to publish his memoirs in the autumn, after official clearance.

The most sensitive sections of Seldon’s biography detail the run-up to the war in Iraq during 2002 and 2003, Blair’s relationship with the White House, and attempts to persuade the United Nations to back action.

Decisions were made largely by a tight group of Downing Street advisers, diplomats and intelligence chiefs working with the prime minister. However, Seldon discovered that even within this group there was unease about Blair’s actions. “Even No 10 was divided, with Jonathan Powell (Blair’s chief of staff) strongly advocating closeness to the (American) administration, and Sally (Baroness) Morgan in particular pressing for the need to go down the UN route, ” writes Seldon.

“Many senior diplomats in the Foreign Office were deeply concerned but failed to speak out . . . Within his closest team in No 10, Campbell and Morgan had private reservations while (David) Manning (Blair’s foreign policy adviser) was often uneasy . . . The intelligence chiefs (Sir John Scarlett, Sir Stephen Lander and Sir Richard Dearlove) were not counselling caution.”

Seldon reveals the alarm of Blair’s inner circle when told that the invasion would not receive the backing of the UN, after diplomatic efforts had failed.

“On 11 March, Greenstock reported to Downing Street that the second resolution attempt was losing ground,” he writes.

“‘I’m not sure we are going to get it through,’ Blair told his aides in No 10, Manning, Powell, Campbell and Morgan. ‘Hell, we are stuck then!’ one of them said as they began to ask themselves quite how they ended up in this position. Some in No 10 were clearly shocked to find themselves in a box with no escape plan.”

The build-up to the invasion began in April 2002 when Blair travelled to George W Bush’s ranch in Texas. It was at this meeting that the possibility of invading Iraq in 2003 was first raised with Blair.

Over the next few months, Blair is understood to have backed the American plan but insisted on several conditions, including UN involvement and a push on the Middle East peace process. However, Seldon details how Blair’s negotiating position was quickly eroded.

Meyer told Seldon he had warned Downing Street officials that Britain was being “taken for granted” by the Americans.

The book notes: “Prior to the most important of his (Blair’s) frequent phone calls to Bush, in the run-up to the Iraq war and on other issues, pointed briefing notes would be prepared for Blair, urging him to tackle the president directly. ‘We’d then read the record of the conversation and see that Blair had gone off at a tangent,’ said one insider. ‘He just seemed oddly reluctant to confront Bush head-on.’”

Reports began to circulate round Whitehall that Blair did not read his briefs, and that he shied away from tough one-on-one encounters.

Seldon writes that during the autumn of 2002 British diplomats and politicians were involved in tense negotiations at the UN, but it seemed that Blair was being bounced into war. Dick Cheney, the vice-president, was hostile to Blair and the British and sat in meetings “like a lump”, according to one official present.

However, Blair was told by diplomats, thought to be Meyer and Greenstock, that he could have stopped America invading Iraq had he been prepared to use his influence.

“Advice Blair received from diplomats that autumn (in 2002) was that Britain could be the swing vote on whether or not the US would go to war.”

One crude remark assesses the scale of the political risk the prime minister took in backing the American invasion. Seldon quotes one close adviser telling Blair at the time: “Forget your contribution to public services. What you’ll be remembered for is winning two f****** great election victories and four wars.”

LEAKED DATA REVEAL REASONS FOR INCREASED BOMBING RAIDS WERE A SHAM

Figures released by the Ministry of Defence have shown the reasons given by Britain and America for stepping up bombing raids in Iraq in the run-up to war were a sham, writes Michael Smith.

Geoff Hoon, who was then defence secretary, and Donald Rumsfeld, his American counterpart, both claimed that the rise in air attacks was in response to Iraqi attempts to shoot down allied aircraft

However, the minutes of a meeting of Tony Blair’s war cabinet on July 23, 2003, leaked to The Sunday Times, record Hoon saying "the US had begun spikes of activity to put pressure on the regime".

Ministers have since insisted that the stepped-up attacks, which began in May 2002, were as a result of increased Iraqi activity and were not an attempt to provoke a response that would give the allies an excuse for war.

The figures do not support those claims. In the first seven months of 2001 the allies recorded a total of 370 "provocations" by the Iraqis against allied aircraft. But in the seven months between October 2001 and May 2002 there were just 32.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, who obtained the MoD data in a Commons written answer, said it reinforced the need for an inquiry into ministers’ conduct in the run-up to war.
The leaked Iraq war documents
Michael Smith
The level of interest in the now famous Downing Street Memo, published in the May 1 edition of The Sunday Times, and in the leaked documents published over subsequent weeks, has been extraordinary
This new web page is designed to give our readers access to all the stories we have written about three highly classified documents on the Iraq war that were leaked to The Sunday Times ahead of the British General Election on May 5, 2005.

These three documents include the now famous “Downing Street Memo”, which contains the minutes of a meeting of what was effectively Tony Blair’s war cabinet held in Downing Street on July 23, 2002.

The meeting was a crucial one. President George W Bush was due to make a decision on which military plan should be used for the invasion of Iraq. The British had a number of deep concerns over the US plans which Blair would have to raise with the US president.

The Foreign Office was particularly concerned over US lack of interest in planning for the aftermath of the war and the lack of a legal justification for ousting Saddam. Regime change for its own sake is illegal under international law. It was therefore seen as essential that the allies went first to the UN to obtain a Security Council resolution backing the use of force to oust Saddam.

It was in this context that the main players on the British side met. Blair chaired the meeting, which was also attended by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw; the then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon; the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith; Sir Richard Dearlove, the Chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6); the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee John Scarlett; and Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, who as Chief of Defence Staff was head of Britain’s armed forces.

The key quotes in this particular document came from:

Dearlove, who had just returned from Washington where he had talks with George Tenet, and was quoted as saying that there was “a perceptible shift in attitude” in the US capital. “Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, though military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route... There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.”

Straw, who said: “It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.” Britain should “work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.”

And Geoff Hoon, who in what may yet turn out to be the most damaging quote of all, said that “the US had already begun “spikes of activity” to put pressure on the regime”. (See British Bombing Raids were Illegal, says Foreign Office, June 19, 2005)

An inside-page article set out the context for the publication of the leaked document (see Blair planned Iraq war from the start, May 1, 2005), and it was in fact the second of the documents, the Cabinet Office briefing paper, Iraq: Conditions for Military Action, on which we based our first front-page story (Blair hit by new leak of secret war plan, May 1, 2005).

This document distributed on July 21, 2002 two days before the Downing Street meeting was designed to brief the participants on the latest situation with regard to the US war planning. It gives an astonishing feel of the official concern felt within Whitehall over the way in which things were going, the lack of legal justification, the failure to prepare for the post-war situation in Iraq and most particularly the fact that there was no way that Britain could get out of going to war (See Ministers were told of need for Gulf War excuse, June 12, 2005).

For as the briefing paper made clear very early on “When the Prime Minister discussed Iraq with President Bush at Crawford in April he said that the UK would support military action to bring about regime change.”

At the time, this was the most damaging part of any of the documents. Despite Blair’s repeated insistence throughout 2002 that no decision had been taken to go to war with Iraq, political analysts had long believed that the decision was in fact made at the Bush-Blair summit at the president’s range at Crawford, Texas, in early April 2002. Not only did this confirm it, but it did so in terms that were highly damaging to the prime minister.

Despite having been warned by his officials that “regime change per se is illegal” he had agreed to back military action to achieve it. There were three conditions attached to his agreement. But the most crucial of these, that “options for action to eliminate Iraq’s WMD through the UN weapons inspectors had been exhausted” would never be achieved.

The third leaked document was Foreign Office legal advice, which was appended to the briefing paper. This is a useful background document on the British view of international law the text of which is now also published on this website.

The recent circulation on the internet of the text of five other similar memos, which were leaked to me last September, has raised some interesting issues, largely because I destroyed the original copies I was given to protect my source. A number of supporters of President Bush have even suggested that this somehow “proved” that the documents were not genuine.

Firstly, all of the documents have been authenticated not just by me, but by the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. Secondly, the various documents included quotes from a dozen senior officials, including Blair, Straw and Hoon, none of whom have come forward to dismiss them as fakes. Thirdly it is a matter of record that a police Special Branch leak investigation took place into how I came to get hold of the documents, something that would not have occurred were they forgeries.

The leak investigation should come as no surprise to anyone who has read the Downing Street Memo, which carries the stern warning, “This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.” The irony is of course that the attention given to the document by the internet bloggers once it appeared on this website has almost certainly made it the most widely read secret British document in history.

Additional links: Hansard on bombs dropped March to October 2002

Hansard on bombs dropped October 2002 to January 2003

Online discussion with Washington Post

July 30, 2005 at 08:53 PM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Pakistan accuses Britain of failing to tackle militants

Pakistan accuses Britain of failing to tackle militants - Sunday Times - Times Online

By Hala Jaber, Rawalpindi
BRITAIN is regarded as a safe haven by Islamic extremists because it has failed to crack down on them despite urging other countries to do so, the president of Pakistan has warned.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, General Pervez Musharraf suggested that Britain had paid a price for putting the right of free speech before the need to curb militant Islamic organisations that openly advocate violence.

“They should have been doing what they have been demanding of us to do — to ban extremist groups like they asked us to do here in Pakistan and which I have done,” he said.

In particular, he said, Britain should have banned Al-Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahrir, groups that he accuses of preaching anger and hatred and of calling for his own assassination.

“They could have banned these two groups. Good action is when you foresee the future and pre-empt and act beforehand, instead of reacting as in the case of Britain — which waited for the damage to be done and is now reacting to it.”

Musharraf, an ally of Tony Blair in the war on terror, took “strong exception” to accusations levelled against Pakistan since it emerged that at least two of the July 7 bombers had visited the country for several weeks up to February this year.

One of them, Shehzad Tanweer, from the Leeds suburb of Beeston, is said by relatives in Pakistan to have spent time there with militants from the banned extremist Jaish-e-Mohammed organisation. Blair has intensified pressure on Musharraf to clamp down on militant training camps and radical madrasahs or religious schools. Musharraf announced last week that all 1,400 foreign students at Islamic schools in Pakistan would be made to leave.

Musharraf said that while he had already implemented sweeping measures, much remained to be done in Britain.

“Many people around the world find it convenient to leave their countries and go to Britain, which they regard as a safe haven as it wants to project itself as a champion of human rights,” Musharraf said.

“But now they (Britain) have to reconsider and take action against these groups.”

Condemning the London bombers as “people who needed to be eliminated”, Musharraf bristled at suggestions that the outrage may have been masterminded from Pakistan because three of the bombers were British nationals of Pakistani parentage. “They came on their British passports — what do you expect us to do? Prevent British passport holders from entering? “The British government should look at those it has given passports to and we should look at those entering our country.”

Intelligence services were still trying to verify whether one of the bombers had attended a madrasah in Pakistan: “If he has gone to a madrasah we will take action against that madrasah.”

He revealed that Pakistani investigators were using telephone records provided by London to interview everyone who two of the bombers had called there from Britain. “We are going through each of those numbers,” he said. “It is a little premature to draw conclusions. It is a very tedious job.”

Musharraf has renewed calls to resolve the Palestinian and Kashmiri disputes which he regards as being at the root of terrorism affecting the entire world. “If we don’t do this we will fail the region and the world,” he said.

Pakistani security forces have detained hundreds of suspected militants and Islamist clerics since the London bombings. “Our campaign is not meant to capture large numbers of people and then release them after a fortnight,” he said. “We are not going to impress with numbers, but we are after the bigwigs, who abet extremism and violence.”

Efforts were under way to arrest Masoud Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group which Tanweer is believed to have contacted.

July 30, 2005 at 08:40 PM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Third terror cell on loose

Third terror cell on loose - Sunday Times - Times Online

David Leppard and John Follain in Rome
Intelligence warns of new wave against soft targets
A THIRD Islamist terror cell is planning multiple suicide bomb attacks against Tube trains and other “soft” targets in central London, security sources have revealed.

Intelligence about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a “third wave” of attacks was the trigger for last Thursday’s unprecedented security exercise. The operation saw 6,000 police, many armed, patrolling across London.

Intelligence about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a “third wave” of attacks was the trigger for last Thursday’s unprecedented security exercise. The operation saw 6,000 police, many armed, patrolling across London.

Senior police officers say that there was “specific” intelligence from several sources that an attack was planned for that day. The disclosure contradicts official statements by Scotland Yard that Thursday’s security exercise — the biggest since the second world war — was simply a precaution aimed at reassuring the public.

The disclosures come as a suspected bomber detained in Italy apparently admitted to involvement in the attacks on July 21. According to Italian reports, Hussain Osman has alleged to investigators that the leader of the July 21 attacks was Muktar Said-Ibrahim, who was detained in London on Friday.

Osman claimed Ibrahim, the alleged bus bomber, had taught him how to make bombs. But he also claimed the incidents on July 21 were intended to be a political statement rather than to take lives.

Details of a “third wave” 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 “associations” 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 “the threat remains and is very real”.

Another officer, a member of the Yard’s firearms unit, which captured three of the suspected suicide bombers in two raids in west London, said: “What we did on Friday was just the tip of the iceberg. There is some big stuff coming in the next few months. There’s a big network that’s got to be cracked.”

Osman, a 27-year-old asylum seeker from Ethiopia who has British citizenship, was arrested by Italian police at his brother’s 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. “Yes, it is true, I was there on July 21. I’d been given a rucksack,” 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: “Religion 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. That’s why we met.”

Osman, who is suspected of the Shepherd’s Bush attack, claimed they had not meant to kill anyone. “I didn’t want to kill, ours was supposed to be a demonstrative act,” he is said to have told interrogators. “We planned to carry out an attack. We didn’t want to kill, only to spread terror.”

Osman appeared at a hearing yesterday where Italian magistrates received a British government request for his urgent extradition. He objected to extradition. His lawyer said it could take up to two months for him to be returned to London.

Ibrahim is being questioned at Paddington Green top security police station in London. Yasin Omar, the suspected Warren Street Tube bomber, was arrested last week. The fourth man, Ramzi Mohammed, the suspected Oval Tube bomber, was arrested with Ibrahim. Ramzi’s brother, Wahbi, 22, is being questioned about the discovery of a discarded fifth bomb.

July 30, 2005 at 08:37 PM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Pakistan to crack down further, expel foreigners from madrassas

TheStar.com - Pakistan to crack down further, expel foreigners from madrassas

RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN—Pakistan's president vowed yesterday to arrest leaders of banned extremist groups and force foreign students to leave Islamic schools, saying he is in a stronger position to target religious militants than during a 2002 crackdown.

"I'm in a totally different environment," said Gen. Pervez Musharraf, whose government has reported arresting nearly 600 suspected militants over the past 10 days and plans stricter oversight of religious schools where extremists are thought to be active.

Musharraf, who strongly condemned the recent terror bombings in Britain and Egypt, has been criticized by some Western officials for not being tough enough on domestic militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

But Musharraf told foreign journalists he did not have "a free hand" in 2002 because of an unstable economy, a confrontation with India over Kashmir and insufficient international support for his presidency.

"Maybe the boat would have capsized" if his government had pursued domestic militants more aggressively in 2002, he said. "We took action, but there were restraining factors."

Musharraf, who turned Pakistan into a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, outlined plans to detain extremist leaders and prevent the use of mosques for inciting militancy. He also said he would require foreigners, including those of dual nationality, to leave religious schools, which under immigration laws means they would have to leave Pakistan.

"We need to act against the bigwigs of all the extremist organizations," Musharraf said. "We are not going as fast as I would like to go."

Musharraf said Pakistan had broken Al Qaeda's command and communication links, "which means that they have ceased to exist as a homogenous, well-controlled, centralized force."

Intelligence reports showed Al Qaeda militants now gather only in small groups and communicate by courier messages that can take two months to reach their destination.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 30, 2005 at 02:00 PM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

US asked to leave Uzbek air base

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | US asked to leave Uzbek air base

Uzbekistan has reportedly given the US six months to move out of a key base used for operations in Afghanistan.

The notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, known as K2, was given to the US embassy in the Uzbek capital on Friday.

A Pentagon spokesman said the US was "evaluating the note to see exactly what it means".

Uzbekistan has been an ally of the US in Central Asia, but correspondents say relations were strained over the bloody suppression of a protest in May.

Flights into the K2 base had been reduced at the request of the Uzbek authorities, after the US criticised the government over events in Andijan.

Earlier this month, the US signalled that it may withhold $22m of aid to Uzbekistan, unless it allows a full inquiry.

Andijan dispute

There are still disputed versions of exactly what happened on 13 May, when troops fired on a crowd of people.

The government says the violence was the result of an attempt by Islamic militants to seize power, and puts the number of dead at 173.

But leading human rights groups say many hundreds of civilians were killed, with Human Rights Watch describing the incident as a "massacre".

Washington has already withheld $8m of aid to Uzbekistan in protest at President Islam Karimov's record on human rights.

The Pentagon negotiated the use of airfields in Central Asia four years ago, to support the war in Afghanistan.

July 30, 2005 at 01:45 PM in US | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Captured - all five 21/7 bomb suspects

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Daniel McGrory, Stewart Tendler and Sean O’Neill

EVERY suspected member of the July 21 suicide bombing team was under arrest last night after an extraordinary day of police operations stretching from a West London housing estate to the backstreets of Rome.

While police are jubilant following a series of successful armed raids across London they believe that the masterminds behind the London terror campaign are still at large.

The suspected July 21 suicide bombing team will be questioned today in the hope that they will disclose the identity of the bomb builders and planners behind last week’s failed attacks. It is also hoped that they know details of the deadly attacks on London’s transport system on July 7 that killed 52 innocent people.

Scotland Yard now believes that it has the four known failed suicide bombers in custody and has also arrested the mystery “fifth man”, alleged to be Whabi Mohammad, 22, the brother of Ramzi Mohammad, held in connection with the failed bomb at Oval station.

Three suspects were arrested in West London while a fourth man, thought to be the Shepherd’s Bush Tube bomber, was arrested by police in Rome acting on information from Scotland Yard.

After announcing the arrests, Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch, said: “We must not be complacent. The threat remains and is very real.”

The successful arrests ended fears that the men might use what explosive they had left to kill themselves, their captors or the families living alongside their hideouts.

Senior officers said that they were astonished and relieved that the suspects were all taken alive.

There was a scare for police trying to grab two of the bombers, who were at the same flat, when two children wandered into their line of fire.

Seconds later the two men appeared naked on the balcony of their fourth-floor apartment and surrendered without a struggle.

Italian police said that the last of the men to be picked up yesterday, Hussain Osman, a father of three, did not resist arrest. They say that he was trying to escape the intensive search and was not planning to stage attacks in Rome.

There is an investigation under way to discover how the Somali-born man who tried to blow up a train at Shepherds Bush managed to slip out of the UK when his photograph was at every port and airport.

He is believed to have gone first to Paris two days ago then on to Milan and finally Rome where it is understood his brother lives.

In a joint intelligence operation between Rome and London, agents were led to the address by monitoring the mobile telephone of the bomber’s brother. Police refused to say if Hussain Osman had been in contact with members of his cell before yesterday’s raids.

After their day of success, Scotland Yard will now have to concentrate on the dangers still facing the public. They still need to establish whether there are yet more explosives hidden by the cell and the identity of the mastermind.

The identity of the bombmaker remains a mystery, so too the quartermaster who obtained the explosive materials and other equipment needed by the cell.

Questioning of these suspects should also provide details of how the two cells behind the attacks on London’s transport system are linked.

The suspect bomber arrested in Birmingham earlier in the week, Yasin Omar, has already provided police with some information.

He is being held at Paddington Green top-security police station where the three men captured in London yesterday were taken. They are all being held separately.

It is believed that some members of their families are already in custody.

Relatives are understood to have given vital information that helped to end Britain’s biggest manhunt without further loss of life.

Yesterday’s raids came less than 24 hours after Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, promised police watchdogs that his officers were closing in on the would-be bombers.

On Thursday night SO13, the anti-terrorist branch, called in hundreds of officers for a top-level briefing on progress in the investigation.

The most dramatic capture came as police grabbed two of the runaway suspects in Notting Hill, West London, and it was seen unfolding live on television.

It was a call from a member of the public at 9.30am that Scotland Yard said “confirmed the intelligence that this was the building we wanted”.

Police marksmen surrounded a flat on a West London estate as fellow officers tried to evacuate as many homes as they could.

After days of raids and arrests across the capital and in Birmingham, the breakthrough for police came yesterday morning when officers are believed to have traced a telephone call to a hideout at Block K Dalgarno Gardens.

Terrified neighbours could clearly hear officers shouting for the occupants to strip to their underwear and surrender.

Tear-gas canisters had been fired into the property, which is understood to have been barricaded.

Inside was Muktar SaidIbrahim, 27, who is suspected of trying to detonate a nail bomb on a bus, and Ramzi Mohammad, the failed Oval bomber.

Police commanders realised that they could not risk a long stand-off. Terrorists in Madrid blew themselves up when police stormed the building.

Officers called both men by their first names but repeatedly warned them: “You must do as we say.” After a two-hour stand-off both gave up without a fight.

A witness said that they heard one of the men say: “I’ve got rights.”

Senior figures involved in the investigation believe that the five men may have lost their nerve after their failure on July 21. It is understood that the men in the cell began fighting about their next move and that two of them decided to attempt to escape rather than make another terror strike.

Barely a mile away at Tavistock Crescent, police are understood to have caught the fifth bomber, who had discarded his device in a nearby park before he could detonate it. He, too, gave up without a struggle.

Two women were seized at Liverpool Street station in London. Commuters said that the two — both thought to be of Somali origin — were seized by police and wrestled to the ground as they tried to buy tickets for the express service to Stansted airport.

It was a surprise announcement from Giuseppe Pisanu, Italy’s Interior Minister, that revealed that the last of the known suspects — Hussain Osman — a naturalised British citizen, had been picked up in Rome. Scotland Yard will seek his swift extradition under the European Extradition Warrant that came into effect in Italy only on Thursday.

According to initial reports, anti-terrorist units moved in on the suspect in a suburb of the capital. The minister said that the operation was continuing. He said that the arrest was the result of international collaboration and that the operation was “truly worthy of praise”.

Once in Rome, Hussain contacted his brother, the owner of an internet point near the central Termini rail station. Police also searched several homes in Rome in connection with the investigation.

The suspect was arrested with his brother at about 5.30pm local time in the Tor Pignatara district. He was questioned at the central police station, probably by the head of the anti-terrorism pool of prosecutors.

COUNTDOWN

11am Police mount armed operation in Tavistock Crescent, West London. A simultaneous raid is carried out at flats owned by the Peabody Trust in Dalgarno Gardens, close to Wormwood Scrubs prison

1.45pm Police announce a number of arrests in the operations

1.54pm Two women held by armed police at Liverpool Street station

2.45pm Two suspected July 21 bombers are among those held

3.20pm Police say two men were held at one address and a third at a second address after raids in West London

5.25pm Hussain Osman is arrested in Rome. He was alleged to be the Shepherd’s Bush terrorist

7.00pm Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, who allegedly tried to blow up a No 26 bus in Hackney, on July 21, identifies himself to police. The second man held in Dalgardo Gardens is Ramzi Mohammad, the alleged Oval Tube bomber

8.00pm a man arrested in Tavistock Crescent is named as Whabi Mohammad, 22. He is the brother of Ramzi Mohammad and is alleged to be the fifth bomber

July 30, 2005 at 01:13 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Shoot to kill error echoes Irish dirty war

Shoot to kill error echoes Irish dirty war - Britain - Times Online

When the stakes are high, police have no choice but to use controversial tactics, say Liam Clarke and Tony Geraghty

The five shots with which a policeman killed a terrorist suspect in London last week echoed round the world. From America to Australia and Asia, the killing made headlines and marked the crossing of a boundary.

Though the days when all British bobbies were thought to be unarmed have long passed, the clinical and close-quarter nature of the shooting was unprecedented in Britain. Police have previously shot men believed to be dangerous, but they have not stood over a prostrate figure and unloaded five rounds into him from point-blank range. To compound matters the police admitted yesterday he had nothing to do with the terror attacks.

However, London has never before faced suicide bombers. The stakes have become much higher, forcing new rules of engagement.

Friday’s killing was a direct result of aggressive new guidelines from Scotland Yard based on the experience of Israel and Sri Lanka in dealing with suicide bombers. British officers are now under instructions to shoot suspects in the head if they are believed to be suicide bombers posing an imminent danger.

A policy of “shoot-to-kill” echoes the darkest days of the Northern Irish troubles. And it raises worrying questions when applied in the much larger and more mixed communities of mainland Britain, and when the suspected terrorists are much more elusive and shadowy.

Today’s Muslim leaders, although supportive of law and order, are worried and demanding explanations. “There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear,” said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Prophetically, a former senior Special Branch officer from Northern Ireland said: “I suspect that the authorities in England will make all the same mistakes as we did.”

Those errors include an operation in Gibraltar in 1988 when the SAS killed three IRA members in the belief that they were about to detonate a radio-controlled bomb. In reality the explosives were miles away and the three suspects were carrying no radio equipment.

Although the Gibraltar coroner’s court ruled that the killings had been lawful, the European Court of Human Rights later criticised the “lack of degree of caution in the use of firearms” by the SAS.

Specialist security forces, such as the recently formed Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), which has been drafted in to combat the present terror threat, are generally protected by law if they shoot first and ask questions later, provided they believe the suspect was a threat to the lives of others.

This proved to be the case when Diarmuid O’Neill, an unarmed IRA man, was shot dead in his Hammersmith flat in 1996. The officer who pulled the trigger told a coroner’s court: “His body language was aggressive, he leaned towards me.” The jury returned a verdict of lawful killing.

But the new policy to cope with suicide attacks is a step further. With suicide bombers there is no question of trying to stop suspects by wounding them: only immediate execution will do.

The threat and risks run far wider than London. Specialist firearms officers are being deployed on secondment to MI5, which is opening eight offices in cities including Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. The aim is to increase the surveillance of terrorist suspects and to penetrate radical networks with informants.

The highly secretive SRR draws on members of the 14th Intelligence Company, and the Force Research Unit (FRU), which handled all military intelligence informers in Northern Ireland.

If the pattern of Northern Ireland is repeated, Asian servicemen will be encouraged to volunteer for covert duties. Some may “resign” from the army to return to their communities as undercover agents.

The past two weeks have given Britons a test of what is potentially in store in the weeks, months, even years ahead. It is a dangerous balance for everyone.

“You can’t be afraid to act if life is at stake,” said a former Northern Ireland Special Branch officer. “But if you alienate people you can hand the terrorists a long-term support base from which to operate.”

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

July 30, 2005 at 01:32 AM in Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

As police move in, a scare for survivor of Tube blast

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Sean O’Neill, Nicola Woolcock, Stewart Tendler, Daniel McGrory and Adam Luck
Suspects arrested in simultaneous raids after intelligence report
THE deafening bang at 11am shook Michael Henning to his core, taking him back to July 7 when he was cut by flying glass and metal as he stood six feet from a suicide bomber on a Circle Line train.

Frightened, claustrophobic and confused, he ran outside, feeling the need to escape and to find out why he was being bombed again. Mr Henning, 39, a broker at Lloyd’s of London who lives close to the Dalgarno Gardens estate in North Kensington, said: “I heard the explosion and instantly knew what it was, although I desperately tried to think of every other possible reason.

“I had to get out, get away from being trapped inside, get into the open air. I feel safer down here. I saw police arrive in helmets and masks. Seconds later it sounded like five or six gunshots, although they could have been explosions.”

Three weeks after surviving the Aldgate bomb, Mr Henning found himself in the middle of an anti-terrorist raid to capture two of the would-be bombers from July 21. He said: “It seems to be following me around.”

The bangs had been stun grenades, fired by police into a flat in K block on the Peabody Trust estate where the suspects — Ramzi Mohammad and Muktar Said-Ibrahim — had been holed up for a week.

A mile to the east, close to Portobello Road, armed police raided an address on the corner of Basing Street and Tavistock Crescent. Their target was Whabi Mohammad, 22, brother of Ramzi. The raids were simultaneous and executed at less than two hours’ notice after intelligence was received at 9.30am.

The commanders of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch met to decide strategy. Firearms teams and bomb disposal technicians were selected for each location.

Officers wanted to avoid the mistakes of previous operations — the mistaken shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and what they see as the incorrect decision to disable Yasin Hassan Omar, the suspected Warren Street bomber, with a stun gun during his detention in Birmingham. An air exclusion zone was requested over West London for the time of the raid. Air-traffic control diverted aircraft and the police helicopter was kept on the ground. A news blackout was also requested.

The information that clinched the decision to act was a call from a member of the public which confirmed intelligence. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the anti-terrorist branch, authorised the raid. It is not known whether it came as tip from an informant, from interviews with a suspect, through intelligence or via a telephone trace or tap. With firearms teams and bomb disposal units on standby at locations across London, the decision was taken to tackle the addresses as quickly as possible.

Charlotte Brown, 16, was at home when she heard the commotion as officers ran along Tavistock Crescent towards the block of flats. She said: “I heard maybe gunshots or bangs and then there was someone shouting. I didn’t know it was the police. It was quite frightening. Police knocked on the door and told us to leave. There were people in protective clothing.”

The suspect, sources said, gave himself up quietly as police stormed the flat. He was stripped then clothed in a white, hooded suit used to preserve scientific evidence on suspects’ bodies and prevent contamination.

Officers in blue suits led him to a vehicle and he was driven away as search and explosives teams moved into the building.

Security sources say they are still investigating his alleged role in the bomb plot, but there are suspicions that he may be linked to the discarded device at Little Wormwood Scrubs.

While events moved quickly at Tavistock Crescent, officers hit problems at Dalgarno Gardens. Stun grenades were fired into the flat but officers did not storm it.

The blasts — intended to deafen and daze but not harm — knocked residents in neighbouring flats off their feet.

As people emerged to see what was happening they were confronted by police, some in balaclavas and armed with automatic weapons, shouting at them to get back inside.

Scotland Yard said the operation was entering a “challenging phase” and asked news channels to stop broadcasting live footage from the scene.

There was concern that the bombers might react in the same way the Madrid terrorists did when they were cornered and set off a huge bomb.

Officers were trying to coax the suspects out of the block of flats. Residents, many cowering in their homes, heard police shouting to “Mohammed” to strip down to his underwear and leave the flat with his arms in the air. It seemed that officers did not know how many men were in the flat.

One woman, who declined to be named, said: “I heard police shout, ‘You need to come out of the flat in your underwear with your arms in the air.’ He said, ‘How do I know you’re not going to shoot me and why do I have to just wear my underwear?’ They said, ‘So we know you’ve got no explosives on you.’ He sounded scared.

“A more aggressive police officer came on the loudspeaker telling him to maintain contact. He didn’t. Then a SWAT team arrived.” Police had fired a volley of CS gas canisters into the flat, which flushed out both men. They emerged on the balcony, hands above their heads. Both were stripped to the waist and spitting as they recovered from the effects of the gas. Guns were trained on them as they were ordered to remove the rest of their clothes.

Minutes later they were clothed in forensic suits and taken away. Further news followed from Rome and by last night Scotland Yard believed that five would-be bombers were in custody.

One was in the hands of Italian police. The other four — suspected of planning mass murder in the warped belief that they would go to paradise — were, instead, in the cells at Paddington Green.

July 30, 2005 at 01:25 AM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

July 29, 2005

IRA realises time for war is finished, insists Adams

The Scotsman - Top Stories - IRA realises time for war is finished, insists Adams

FRASER NELSON
POLITICAL EDITOR

Key points
• Gerry Adams and the IRA have agreed the time for war is over
• IRA units have been instructed to disarm and engage in a political process
• Ulster Unionists remain sceptical and await proof

Key quote
"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means," - IRA statement

Story in full AFTER decades of violence, the IRA ended its terrorist campaign for a united Ireland yesterday and pledged to hand over its weapons without any conditions.

Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, said the "time for war" was over and that the IRA had agreed. Both Dublin and London hailed the move as the most momentous peaceful development in the 36 years of the Troubles.

But reaction was more guarded in Northern Ireland, where the news was greeted by Unionists without celebration - Unionist political parties saying they would only be satisfied when IRA pledges were backed up by proof.

The extraordinary chain of events began on Wednesday night, when Sean Kelly, who was found guilty of the 1993 Shankill Road bomb attack that killed nine people, was freed from jail in an apparent deal with the IRA.

At midday yesterday, the IRA released a statement read out by a former prisoner, saying it had agreed to the April request by Mr Adams to give up what he called the "armed campaign".

"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means," it said.

In words which 10 Downing Street said are particularly important, the IRA appeared to call for an end to the racketeering, punishment beatings and drug dealing that the IRA has resorted to since declaring its ceasefire in 1998.

"Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever," the statement said.

Mr Adams insisted the IRA decision was a courageous and confident initiative and history would not be kind to governments which played politics with it. In Dublin he claimed: "There is a time to resist, to stand up and to confront the enemy by arms if necessary. In other words there is a time for war. There is also a time to engage, to reach out and put war behind us."

Mr Blair had been given notice of the statement, and read out a response in No 10 yesterday, hailing a move of "unparalleled magnitude" in the 12-year peace process.

"The instruction in the IRA statement that volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever will be taken as a forthright denunciation of any activity, paramilitary or criminal," he said.

"This may be the day when, finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war and politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," he said.

The next goal, Mr Blair concluded, was to reconvene the Northern Ireland Assembly which has been suspended for three years in response to ongoing low-level IRA activity.

The Rev Ian Paisley, whose hardline Democratic Unionist Party is now the largest in Northern Ireland, was unmoved yesterday, saying he had long ago stopped raising his hopes on the ground of statements from either the IRA or No 10.

"I've heard it all before. You can wrap it up any way you like or put a ribbon on the top. But it's the action that proves that this has happened," he said. "The whole thing is intended to sell the people a pup."

Sir Reg Empey, who has replaced the more moderate David Trimble as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said it would be "some time" before devolution returned to Northern Ireland.

His party has been "burnt so many times before", he said. "This is not simply whingeing or being difficult about it. It is being simply factual that we have had so many statements before that haven't been kept."

But there were signs that the proof Unionists seek may emerge in the next few weeks. There were reports yesterday that John de Chastelain, the Canadian general who heads the independent arms decommissioning body, is on the move in Ireland and may soon verify destruction of an arms cache.

But the dissolution of the IRA's organised crime network will be harder to monitor, as it still denies involvement in such activities - especially last December's £22.5 million Northern Bank raid.

Martin McGuinness, deputy Sinn Fein leader, seemed emphatic on this point as he spoke in Washington yesterday. "There is no possibility whatsoever of the IRA engaging in any activity whatsoever which would undermine the historic and momentous nature of the statement," he said.

But Catherine McCartney, whose brother Robert was killed by two IRA men outside a pub in January, said the IRA had not gone far enough.

"It has not spelled out where it stands on those within its ranks who indulge in criminal activity," she said. "It tells them they have to stop it. But it does not say what happens if they don't stop it."

The IRA statement has two notable omissions: it does not say the "war is over" nor does it pledge to disband. But British officials said that the IRA will continue to exist in theory so terrorists cannot take its place.

The Provisional IRA was formed in 1969, when it split from the now-defunct Official IRA. Since then it has killed some 400 soldiers, 800 police officers and 600 civilians.

Its last attack was made ten years ago, in a bomb at Canary Wharf in east London. But the "Continuity IRA" and "Real IRA" remain active, having committed the Omagh bombing in 1998, which killed 28.

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said he had not lost sight of the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. "They are small, marginalised and isolated, but they still pose a threat," he said. "But they must realise, like the Loyalist groups - who are engaged in a feud and are killing each other - that the old politics is over. We have entered a new Northern Ireland, looking forward to a future free of violence."

The lower ranks of both the republican and Unionist paramilitaries were last night asking whether the IRA leadership had the power to stand down its members.

Jackie McDonald, a UDA brigadier, asked: "How can they say to wee Paddy, on the border with his AK47, who has spent 27 years shooting at soldiers and peelers [police]: 'Give us your AK47. You don't need it any more'? The Green Book [the IRA constitution] said they would never give up an ounce of Semtex or a bullet until they achieve a united Ireland."

Little more political movement in the peace process is expected until the House of Commons reconvenes in October. The May general election bodes ill for power-sharing as it confirmed that voters have gravitated to Rev Paisley's DUP and Mr Adams' Sinn Fein.

Mr Adams said he was ready to open talks with his old adversary. "We are quite prepared to speak to them [the DUP] tomorrow morning," he said.

The Irish government has already claimed that Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness have quit as members of the IRA's ruling "army council". This would place them in a better position to share power in Stormont.

July 29, 2005 at 07:31 PM in IRA | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

'All four' July 21 suspects held

BBC NEWS | UK | 'All four' July 21 suspects held

All four failed London bomb suspects are reported to be in custody following armed raids in the UK capital and Rome.

Two London arrests are thought to be the men wanted for the 21 July Oval Tube and No 26 bus attacks. A third bomb suspect was already being held.

The fourth suspect, wanted for the attempted Shepherd's Bush Tube attack, has been arrested in Rome and named as Somali-born UK citizen Osman Hussain.

Police arrested three people in raids in Notting Hill and north Kensington.

Officers have also arrested two women at Liverpool Street station.

Gas masks

Police are still questioning Yasin Hassan Omar, wanted over the Warren Street Tube attempted attack, who was arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday.

BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett said he had been told that two of the men arrested in Friday's raids were believed to be wanted in connection with the failed bomb attacks.

They are Muktar Said Ibrahim - suspected of trying to bomb a bus in Shoreditch - and a man, who police have not yet named, wanted over the attempted Oval Tube bombing.

Scotland Yard said they believed the arrests to be highly significant and described Friday as their "best day yet" since 21 July.

The properties raided on Friday are in a Peabody Trust estate in Dalgarno Gardens, North Kensington, where two arrests were made and the Tavistock Road area of Notting Hill, where police arrested one man.

Eyewitnesses say they heard three shots and a large explosion as officers wearing gas masks entered one property.

Map of West London raids

In Dalgarno Gardens officers were continually shouting at someone in a flat to come out. They were addressing him as "Muhammad".

The police asked him: "What is the problem? Why can't you come out?

"Take your clothes off. Exit the building. Do you understand?"

One resident told BBC News 24 she was inside a block of flats on the Peabody Estate at the time.

"They were shouting to him that he needed to come out with his arms up, in just his underwear.

"He was saying to them: 'how do I know when I come out, that you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared'."

Police assured him he would not get shot as long as he followed instructions and they knew he was not a risk to the police or the public, she added.

Officers told other residents on the 350-property estate to "get inside now".

'Almighty bang'

Scotland Yard said they were not aware of firearms having been used.

In an separate raid in Notting Hill one eyewitness says a man dressed in a white forensic overall was taken away in an unmarked police car.

Another has spoken of seeing three other people being taken away in a police van.

Chris Stokes told BBC News: "We got told to move out of the way by armed police and within about five minutes we heard three gunshots go off behind the block of flats at Tavistock Crescent."

Allan Sneddon, who lives nearby, told BBC News: "There was this almighty bang... big enough to shake the ground."

BBC Correspondent Jane Hughes said loud noises heard by witnesses may have been explosives used to blow in the door to a property and CS gas may have been used to subdue people.

In other developments:

# Edgware Road station has opened for the first time since the 7 July bomb attacks.

# The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) - the biggest trade union for Tube workers - is calling for more rail guards on trains and better emergency training and equipment, including breathing apparatus for rail staff.

# Nine men were arrested by police in Tooting, south London, on Thursday, bringing the total number of people held under anti-terrorist laws over the London attacks to 20.

# A major police operation was put into operation on the UK's transport system, with officers on a precautionary high alert to reassure the public and deter would-be attackers.

# The funeral of Jean Charles de Menezes is to be held in his home town of Gonzaga on Friday.

July 29, 2005 at 01:27 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Key London bombs suspect arrested in Zambia

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Philippe Naughton, Times Online

Haroon Rashid Aswat

A senior British al-Qaeda operative sought by authorities since the July 7 bombing attacks on London has been arrested in Zambia.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that Haroon Rashid Aswat, a 30-year-old of Indian descent who grew up in West Yorkshire, was arrested last week and is being held in Lusaka, where both British and US anti-terrorism investigators have travelled.

British officials confirmed the report, but would not immediately elaborate. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are seeking consular access to a British national who is reported to be in custody in Zambia."

Aswat, whose associations with al-Qaeda date back ten years, is believed to have entered Briton about two weeks before July 7 on a ferry into Felixstowe, and to have flown out from Heathrow hours before the four suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters on three Tube trains and a bus.

Investigators have sought him since discovering that he made up to 20 calls from his mobile phone to two of the bombers. Intelligence sources told The Times that during his stay in Britain Aswat visited the home towns of all four bombers as well as selecting targets in London.

Aswat, who is believed to come from Dewsbury, the West Yorkshire town where one of the July 7 bombers lived, is also being sought by the FBI, accused of having tried to set up al-Qaeda training camps in the US.

The Los Angeles Times said in its report that US and UK authorities had not yet decided where he should be prosecuted after his expected extradition from Zambia.

FBI documents obtained by The Times reveal details of how a London-based cleric sent Aswat to America in 1999 to set up camps in Oregon for US-born recruits.

The papers indicate that Aswat spent three months in America and engaged in firearms and poisons training, but decided against using a remote ranch in Bly as an al-Qaeda camp. The CIA is keeping in close touch with Aswat’s interrogation and British detectives are seeking permission to speak to him.

The FBI is to question a number of figures held in the US, including James Ujaama, an American convert to Islam who met Aswat, and a second al-Qaeda emissary in Seattle.

Ujaama has pleaded guilty to assisting the Taleban and is now a "co-operating witness" who has given details of Aswat’s activities in the US.

Aswat flew into New York on November 26, 1999, on an Air India flight with Oussama Abdullah Kassir, who has Swedish nationality. Kassir, 38, described himself as "a hitman for Osama bin Laden" and claimed to have fought in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Ujaama drove the pair to the ranch but they complained that it did not have the facilities — especially barracks for potential recruits — that they had been led to believe existed.

July 29, 2005 at 12:38 AM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Wanted man 'detained in Zambia'

BBC NEWS | UK | Wanted man 'detained in Zambia'

A British man wanted for questioning over the 7 July London bombings has reportedly been detained in Zambia.

Haroon Rashid Aswat, who grew up in West Yorkshire, is alleged to have made contact with two suicide bombers before they carried out their mission.

Mr Aswat was held in the border town of Livingstone after entering the country from Zimbabwe, Zambian officials said.

The Foreign Office said it was seeking access to a British national reportedly in custody, but did not name him.

It has been suggested that Mr Aswat was in the UK shortly before the London attacks and called two of the bombers on his mobile phone.

According to news reports from the US, he was arrested last week for his alleged role in planning a terrorist training camp in Oregon in 1999.

'Net closing'

Scotland Yard declined to shed any light on claims Mr Aswat was the possible mastermind of the July 7 attacks.

A spokeswoman said: "It's all speculation and not something that we will discuss at the moment."

The four suicide bombers struck on three underground trains and a bus, killing 52 people and injuring 700.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said he remained confident those responsible for last week's attempted bombings in London would be caught.

Speaking in a debate on BBC One, Sir Ian said the "net was closing".

Police are questioning 21 July suspect Yasin Hassan Omar following his arrest in Birmingham on Thursday, but the search for the other three men continues.

In other developments:

# Nine men were arrested by police in Tooting, south London, on Thursday, bringing the total number of people held under anti-terrorist laws over the London attacks to 20.

# A major police operation was put into operation on the UK's transport system, with officers on a precautionary high alert to reassure the public and deter would-be attackers.

# The funeral of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, who was shot at Stockwell Tube station after being wrong identified as a suicide bomber, is to be held in his home town of Gonzaga on Friday.

# The Home Office said Mr Menezes' visa had expired two years before he was shot by police.

# The Metropolitan Police Commissioner told the BBC his officers had no choice but to shot dead Mr Menezes. Sir Ian Blair said using Taser stun-guns on suspected bombers was an "incredible risk".

July 29, 2005 at 12:34 AM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

July 27, 2005

'Six further terror cells are poised to strike'

The Scotsman - Top Stories - 'Six further terror cells are poised to strike'

GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
CHIEF NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Key points

• Al-Qaeda experts have warned that there may be six terrorist cells in Britain
• Each cell could have the capacity to manufacture its own explosives
• Transport Police suggest attacks might not be limited to London

Key quote
"It is plainly the case that the group in the 7 July attacks simply didn't appear on the MI5 radar screens. Their assessment of the security situation before the attacks showed a surprising degree of optimism." - Prof Wilkinson, St Andrews University

Story in full AS MANY as six more terrorist cells may be preparing to launch bombing attacks in Britain, with each unaware of the existence of the others, two of the world's most respected al-Qaeda experts warned yesterday.

The warnings came as police continued to search desperately for the five-man gang behind the failed 21 July bombings and the breakthrough that would lead them to the mastermind co-ordinating the attacks.

One development which will be of particular concern to officers involved in the investigation is the discovery yesterday of a large quantity of chemicals apparently used to make the bombs which failed to detonate on three Tube trains and a bus last Thursday.

Bomb disposal officers remained at the 12-storey Curtis House, in Ladderswood Way, New Southgate, which was stormed by armed police on Monday. Counter-terrorism sources have confirmed that a "large amount" of "possibly" explosive material had been found there. Yesterday, police widened the cordon around the tower block and searched lock-up garages nearby.

Police have spoken to suspect Muktar Said-Ibrahim's father, who lives in north-west London, as they look into the background of the bombers, but he has not been arrested.

The bomb factory, in a garage linked to an address in north London visited by members of the gang, suggests that each cell has the capacity to manufacture its own explosives. Detectives had hoped that the bombers may have all been using explosives manufactured at a flat in Leeds, and that the bombs would deteriorate over time, rendering them ineffective.

Despite the seizure yesterday of a car believed to have been used by the gang, there have been no sightings of the men themselves since they were seen returning to the Curtis House flats after their failed attack.

One theory is that the men picked up more explosives and then headed for another safe house, where they are waiting to strike again. But another possibility is that they will now lie low while other cells prepare their own attacks.

Police yesterday searched a white VW Golf, seized in East Finchley, north London, for forensic clues. Insiders say it is thought one of the bombers used the car at some point. Officers closed off a road and evacuated dozens of homes while they carried out an examination before declaring it to be safe.

Experts familiar with the methods adopted by al-Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorist networks are concerned that police and the intelligence services are no closer to discovering who is organising the cells than they were before the first attack.

The leading Pakistani expert on jihadist movements, Mohammad Amir Rana, said he was surprised by how little the British security services appeared to have known about the threat facing them.

He warned that the attacks appeared to be the work of an operation involving many more cells than the two that have struck in London. He added that attempts to find links between the cells may prove futile.

"I would expect six to eight cells," he said. "They would not have to know each other - that is not how they work. I would think they are being co-ordinated from outside Britain, possibly by someone in the tribal areas of Pakistan."

Mr Rana, the author of The Seeds of Terrorism, a new book on the jihadi threat, said he suspected the involvement of Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba network, which has sought to expand its operations in recent years.

He said the group retained strong links with al-Qaeda leaders and had the facility to raise large amounts of money to fund its operations, often through charitable donations from sympathetic Muslims in western countries, including Britain.

Mr Rana's fears over the existence of additional, as yet undetected, cells were supported by Professor Paul Wilkinson, of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University.

"It is very unlikely that the people we know about are the only ones around," he said. "I would expect the network would be more substantial than that. There is a strong possibility that a number of cells are being supported by elements of al-Qaeda. They wouldn't necessarily know each other, though the leaders of the groups may have been in touch with each other."

Prof Wilkinson also voiced serious concerns over how much the intelligence services know about the groups they are facing. "It is plainly the case that the group in the 7 July attacks simply didn't appear on the MI5 radar screens," he said.

"Their assessment of the security situation before the attacks showed a surprising degree of optimism."

In a demonstration of what is looking increasingly like complacency about the threat to the UK, one former government counter-terrorism official yesterday dismissed the effects of the attacks.

Mark Stollery, who is deputy director of research and intelligence at Aegis Defence Services, said the bombers would have hoped to bring the capital "to its knees". However, the result for most people who were not actually caught up in the explosions was "short term and annoyance disruption".

He added: "This may have come as a surprise to al-Qaeda."

Another intelligence source spoke of his surprise at attacks being mounted against Britain, which he said represented "a huge paradigm shift". He said: "It was a shock to the system of tremendous proportions."

The problems facing the intelligence services in linking the cells are demonstrated by the failure of Spanish investigators, more than a year on from the Madrid attacks, to find solid connections between the perpetrators and al-Qaeda's leaders.

The amount of help that can be expected from Pakistan is also in doubt. Despite a much-vaunted crackdown on extremists, there have been no arrests directly linked to the London attacks, and on Monday the country's president, Pervez Musharraf, said that al-Qaeda was too weak to organise terrorist attacks from Pakistan.

He acknowledged that small groups of al-Qaeda militants might still be present in the north and south Waziristan tribal regions of Pakistan, but insisted that they played no part in the attacks.

Speaking last night Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair revealed there had been 250 suicide bomb scares since the 7 July atrocities when police thought they may have been dealing with a suicide bomber.

"I know that when I last saw it there had been seven times when we have got as close to calling it as 'that' and we haven't," he said.

July 27, 2005 at 05:19 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Adams and McGuinness 'have quit as IRA leaders'

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online

By David Sharrock
GERRY ADAMS and Martin McGuinness have quit the Provisional IRA’s ruling army council, Michael McDowell, the Irish Justice Minister, said yesterday.

Mr McDowell, who broke with the London-Dublin protocol of recent years by “outing” both men as IRA leaders after the Northern Bank raid in December, said that Martin Ferris, a Sinn Fein TD, or member of the Irish Parliament, had also left the army council.

He spoke as Tony Blair said that the IRA could not be compared to al-Qaeda terrorists because he did not think “the IRA would ever have set about trying to kill 3,000 people”. In 30 years about 3,600 people died in Ulster, nearly half of them killed by the Provisional IRA.

But Mr Blair said that the scale of al-Qaeda’s slaughter of innocents “without limit” set it and the IRA apart.

Mr McDowell’s claim that Sinn Fein’s leaders had left the IRA leadership body in Belfast came as speculation grew that an IRA statement might be made later today. Asked if Mr Adams, president of Sinn Fein, Mr McGuinness, its chief negotiator, and Mr Ferris had all given up their alleged membership of the army council, he said: “That’s my understanding.”

Mr McGuinness and party colleague Rita O’Hare fly to the US today to tell politicians and supporters of the political situation in Ulster. Their visit is expected to include stops in Washington and New York, raising speculation that the IRA will shortly make a statement on its future plans.

Mr Adams has always denied being an IRA member. It is alleged that he joined the organisation soon after it split from the Official IRA in 1970 and was its chief-of-staff from 1977 until arrested a year later after the La Mon bombing, when 12 people died at the Irish Collie Club annual dinner. Mr McGuinness is said to have replaced Mr Adams as chief-of-staff and remained in place until 1982. Both men are said to have been part of the seven-member army council ever since. In 1984 police caught Mr Ferris trying to smuggle a shipload of weapons from Boston to Ireland. He spent eight years in prison.

They have been replaced by men loyal to the Adams leadership, sources said. But Mr McDowell said: “I don’t think that by itself [their departure from the army council] amounts to a severance between the two organisations. It’s an acknowledgement, in my view, that there was a very structured link between them in the past.”

With the British and Irish Governments hoping to hear that the IRA will declare an end to all violence and empty its arms dumps, he said that actions and not words were all that mattered now.

“The IRA needs to mutate to an extent that it’s no longer an unlawful organisation,” he said.

Mr McDowell said that there could be no partial IRA disarmament. A weapons gesture is expected to coincide with the statement. “There is no position whatsoever between being armed and being unarmed for the IRA,” he said.

July 27, 2005 at 04:39 PM in IRA | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

McGuinness visit heightens IRA expectations

ePolitix.com - McGuinness visit heightens IRA expectations

Martin McGuinness has travelled to the US amid reports that he has left the IRA army council.

Sinn Fein's chief negotiator left Dublin on Wednesday to update White House officials and congressmen on the Northern Ireland peace process ahead of an expected IRA statement on its future and weapons decommissioning.

Earlier in the week the Irish justice minister Michael McDowell claimed that McGuinness, party president Gerry Adams and Irish parliament member Martin Ferris, had left the IRA's ruling body.

All have denied ever being members of the army council, but McDowell's move, along with the McGuinness visit, appear to suggest that the long-awaited response to Adams' call for republicans to "embrace democracy" is imminent.

But departing Ireland, McGuinness said the minister's comments were not relevant.

"I'm not interested in that sort of a discussion. I'm more interested in successfully ensuring that the work we are engaged in brings about the full and faithful implementation of the Good Friday agreement," he said.

"The only thing I have to say about Michael McDowell is the less said about Michael McDowell the better."

Statement

The IRA is expected to announce that it is giving up violence for good, possibly including disbanding itself into republican clubs, as well as decommissioning another large tranche of weapons.

That could unlock the latest stage in the peace process, which has been stuck since talks broke down at the end of last year by unionist demands for transparent evidence that weapons have been put beyond use.

Since then the IRA has also been implicated in the Belfast Northern Bank raid and the murder of Catholic Robert McCartney.

However any restoration of the suspended Stormont assembly could also be delayed by unionists' call for Sinn Fein and the IRA to be judged on their actions, rather than words.

McGuinness called for "patience" when pressed on the timing of any statement but said other parties had obligations to the peace process too.

"I hope it is in everybody's interests," he said.

"This is a time of great challenge but it also a time of great opportunity. So, are we up for it? Yes, we are."

July 27, 2005 at 12:02 PM in IRA | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

What does it mean to be British?

Telegraph | Expat | What does it mean to be British?

By Anthony King
(Filed: 27/07/2005)

In pictures: Best of British
Your view: What does it mean to be British?

What is Britishness and what are fundamental British values? A YouGov survey for the Telegraph has found that Britons' sense of national identity depends far more on shared values and institutions than on nostalgia for warm beer and village cricket.

YouGov asked respondents which of a wide variety of words and phrases were important to them in defining Britain and what it means to be British. The percentages saying each was "very important" are set out in the chart.

As the figures show, values such as people's right to say what they think, fairness and fair play, politeness and tolerance of other people and their ideas stand out, with political institutions alongside.

The nation's history is also a central theme. People attach special importance to Britain's defiance of Nazi Germany in 1940, with the emphasis almost certainly as much on "Nazi" as on "Germany". The Royal Navy ranks high as a national symbol, higher even than the monarchy. People also know how much they owe to the fact that Britain has not been invaded since 1066.

Ye Olde Britain, foreign tourists' Britain, clearly matters far less to the natives. Not only warm beer and cricket but also red telephone boxes and double-deck buses scarcely figure in Britons' sense of what their country means. Pubs and Shakespeare matter more.

Individual men and women can also embody a nation's values and character. YouGov asked respondents which of a number of well-known contemporary Britons they take pride in. The responses reflect this year's Britain rather than yesteryear's.

Immigrants from the Caribbean once complained that "there ain't no black in the Union Jack". YouGov says that there is now. Kelly Holmes, the Olympic double gold medallist, is in a virtual dead heat with the Queen. Sir Trevor McDonald comes joint third with Lord Coe. The boxer Amir Khan outranks Tim Henman as an object of pride.

Partly because it is rooted so deeply in the present as well as the past, Britons' sense of national identity seems secure. People never ask themselves the question, "What does it mean to be British?", they just go about the business of being British.

As the figures in the chart show, nearly 90 per cent of YouGov's respondents are not shy about saying that they are proud to be British and almost as many reckon that, taking everything into account, this country has been "a force for good in the world". The British like to moan, but they can afford to moan because they have got so little to moan about.

Since the London bombings, some commentators maintain that Britain and the British way of life are under threat, the implication being that the threat is so serious that it may ultimately destroy the nation and its values. Most Britons are unimpressed, says YouGov.

Well over 80 per cent are either willing to accept that such a threat exists but maintain that extremists have "no realistic chance" of destroying the nation's way of life or else go further and deny that a threat exists at all. Only one individual in eight assents to the proposition that "extremists are threatening the British way of life and British values and may succeed in destroying both".

Perhaps because a large proportion of non-Muslim Britons have peaceful Muslim friends and neighbours, a majority also rejects the idea that this country is in the front line of a "clash of civilisations".

As the figures show, more than half of those questioned insist that "there is no fundamental contradiction between the beliefs of western liberal democracy and the beliefs of Islam, only between liberal democracy and the beliefs of a minority of Islamic extremists and fanatics".

That said, roughly a quarter of people believe that the values of liberal democracy and those of Islam are indeed "fundamentally contradictory" and another quarter remain agnostic on the point.

Just as YouGov's recent survey of British Muslims revealed the existence of a minority of Muslims alienated from mainstream Britain, so this new survey suggests that large numbers of Britons are now suspicious of Islamic ideas, more suspicious than they are of Muslims themselves.

YouGov elicited the opinions of 3,505 adults across Britain online between July 20 and 22. The data have been weighted to conform to the demographic profile of British adults.
# Anthony King is professor of government at Essex University.

__________________________________________________

Your view: What does it mean to be British?
(Filed: 27/07/2005)

What is Britishness and what are fundamental British values?

Microsoft

A YouGov survey for The Daily Telegraph has found that Britons' sense of national identity depends more on shared values and institutions than on nostalgia for warm beer or cricket.

Now is your chance to give your views on what it means to be British.

Are you proud to be British? What are the key values that define your identity?

Send your views, including your name and where you live, to newsfeedback@telegraph.co.uk. A selection of your comments will be published throughout the day.

Here are some early views:

Being British to me means that if we are tasked to do something we don’t just ‘do it’, we embrace it, we do it with style, panache and enthusiasm. I have no doubt that the world will see the best Olympics ever in 2012. Simply because we always produce the goods when we are given an opportunity to prove our worth to the world. Just wait and see. Steve Searle, Portsmouth

Living for last three years in Paris I now see more clearly the great British traits: tolerance, understatement, intelligence, the willingness to listen to others (sadly lacking in some other places), a respect for the law without being subservient to it, a love of our countryside and our monuments, and above all the joy of conversation and a good joke shared (preferably over a warm pint). Add to this a dash of eccentricity and a good dose of looneys, and you have a healthy and heady mix which will continue to survive the worst the world can throw at us. The steel of the nation has been wrought from the fire of its history. Andrew Wilson, Paris

Being British means having a respect and intellectual understanding of our institutions, and the continuity of our island life that they represent. It is to understand and accept that change comes about through evolution in society, not revolution. It means that when in doubt, we try and do the right thing and deploy a heavy dose of common sense. It means that when our political party does not win an election, and no matter how fiercely we disagree with the winners, that we become the Loyal Opposition. It means that we will tolerate any point of view, however outrageous, until it stops tolerating us. It means being able to laugh at ourselves and never take offence. It means that we will argue amongst ourselves, but be instantly united if our country is threatened. And, most importantly, it means that our patriotism is intellectual and born of a conviction that does not need to be expressed in words or flags because we are supremely comfortable and confident with who we are as a people. Mark Newdick, Danbury, CT, USA (Expat)

To feel British is something you experience when you are away from Britain. Its green countryside. Safety when walking the streets. The fact that we band together against adversity. So many things have been invented in our country. Barry Ashcroft, Barnet, Herts

As a British citizen living long term in Shanghai, China I have come to understand all that is great about being British. In Shanghai, when all are panicking around you, when it is considered acceptable to rush into a lift before you leave, to slam doors in other people's faces and push and shove in queues one comes to learn that there is a fundamental decency to being British. Superficial as these things are, they are fundamental to the way in which we deal with each other and also other cultures. Respect for other people, politeness and an understated personal appearance combined with an inner confidence, these are the values that are fundamental to being British. Chris, Shanghai

Being British is a state of mind, not just a stamp on a passport or a place of birth. If you believe that right and wrong do exist and that the former is preferable, in tolerance for another’s views, in supporting his right to do something of which you disapprove as long as it does not materially harm others, and if you oppose the State interfering unnecessarily in people’s lives, you qualify as British. William Vincent, Sevenoaks, Kent

I have always been proud to be an Englishman. British comes a close second. However, that pride is fast eroding. The values for which I held dear, justice, integrity of public officials, freedom of speech, safety on our streets, unarmed police officers, (of which I served 30 years!), are quickly dying. Barrie Hawkyard

Being British is to proud of our history and it's Christian values. It is about defending our country, our freedom and these values. It is about integration and acceptance of our values. It is remembering those who have given up their lives for the same and be prepared, without question, to follow in their footsteps. David Thijm, Stourbridge

As a British-born dual citizen living in Australia, I treasure my innate British values as a moral compass that I suspect that citizens of "newer" countries do not have. Britain to me is like an old-fashioned parent: it looks after you if you're good, but doesn't lavish you with praise like the Americans would, lest you become big-headed; it will also look after you if you're bad, providing you show the appropriate level of remorse and promise to do better next time. If you're really bad, you're held up as a bad example and punished in front of your peers as a deterrent, but it won't abandon you. Lorraine, Australia

Being British is: applauding the other team when they score. It’s being courteous to people serving me at a store. It’s giving way at a roundabout (somewhat nerve-wracking here) It’s helping my elderly next door neighbour for the pleasure of it. It’s respecting the values and traditions that were instilled into me by my parents along with a strong community spirit. It’s feeling profoundly satisfied with a Monarch who has served us faithfully for over 50 years. Linda, Sydney, Australia

The joy of being a 'pom' in the Antipodes? Being the butt of a variety of 'whingeing' jokes, exasperation at our 'better luck next time' attitude to sport, and disbelief at our reserve in times of high drama. Most of all, and most gratifyingly, acknowledgment from all around me that there very few others in the world with the will and resolve not to be intimidated by those with corrupt and perverse ideology. Ian Matthews, New Zealand

Being British means everything to me. After almost forty years in Brussels, I still have tears in my eyes for an identity that has now become practically virtual. Being born British is reflected in an almost Victorian education. School uniform, being caned (as in bamboo cane) or having a ruler slash your finger tips by a furious headmistress when only six years old. As a child, books by Enid Blyton, Bronte sisters or the silly Beano, the Famous Five (my method of escaping and no television). The Archers, strawberries and clotted cream. The hymns that we sung meaninglessly and repeatedly but today brings tears to my eyes. Being born British was my passport to success. Being British meant the liberators of WW2. Being English, unfortunately, has come to be associated with hooliganism, drunken holidaymakers and dare I continue... Ann Johnson, Brussels

Most outstanding to me about being British (English with Scottish parents) is the sense of fair play and justice and wanting respect as you give to others. I am certainly not an EU fan, a long way from wanting a ‘super state’ being ruled from Brussels but I have respect for the individual European countries and for what they stand for. Now is the time to close ranks and be proud to be British, stand along side one another and support ourselves, be selfish to the point where we come first for a change and think of what is best for Britain and its loyal people. Rob, Wiltshire

Britishness is reliance and on your friends and family rather than the state. This belief has allowed Britain to resist the statist doctrines of fascism, communism and socialism better than most. Worryingly, it is because they understand this so clearly, that the liberal left has waged a relentless war on the traditional married family. Divide the family and conquer the British? Lance Grundy, Liverpool

As a child and young person I was very proud to be English. I was proud of the Empire, I was proud to sing Land of Hope and Glory, I was proud to be a Londoner during the Second World War. I am now no longer proud to be English. Free speech is being eroded almost daily, I no longer even know the names of my neighbours, let alone talk to them, and above all how can anyone be proud to be part of a nation which appears to be composed almost entirely of immoral, money mad people? Mrs R. Goulding, London

While I agree pretty much with the findings of your poll, most of the virtues you celebrate and the people your respondents identify are in fact English - Amir Khan, for example, stated that he is 'English through and through'. Yet England is treated as the national equivalent of Middlesex, a forgotten administrative unit with no political existence. See the entry for England in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Your newspaper seems to rejoice in this yet the English constitute 84 per cent of the British people. Britain cannot be truly united until we can celebrate being English as well as being Scots, Welsh or Irish and for that we need to recognise the existence of England as a country within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Ian Campbell, Leatherhead, Surrey

Being British means being proud of our history, for without it we have nothing to base our future on. It is irrelevant whether we agree with what happened in our country's past (as I am sure future generations will not like what we are doing now) history is a foundation to build on. If we had not had an Empire would we have such a diverse society as we do now? We need to be proud of all that we achieve. Being British also means in times of adversity getting on with life, supporting those weaker than ourselves, being a friend to others and a help to our neighbours. The British play by the rules, and enjoy Sunday pub lunches and still love cricket on the green. Sue Fletcher, France

All Indians who have lived here and taken British nationality feel British, live British and value British ways of life and justice. This does not mean men have to visit pubs every day and women have to sleep around with every other guy. Britishness means tolerance, justice and fair play and practice of religion without harming others. The problem is for the indigenous population in accepting dark skinned people as Brits even if they are born, bred and brought up in Britain. Sridhar Rao, Bromley, Kent

Britishness is believing:- That everyone has rights but they also have extensive responsibilities. That society depends on people giving as well as receiving. That those who fail to observe our laws should be punished effectively. That there is no such thing as a free lunch. That never winning a cricket match against Australia is not the end of the world. That we are not a soft touch for people who would rather not live in their own countries. That one of these days we will get a government that we can be proud of. That our Armed Forces are still the best in the world. That our countryside is beautiful. That our dreadful weather should be the subject of most conversations. That out TV is light years better than the Americans. That our public transport is endearingly awful and will never noticeably improve. That after reaching a certain age everyone is required to listen to Terry Wogan every morning. That a roast meal must be eaten on Sundays. That a day on the beach should never be put off just because it might be raining. That we all thoroughly enjoy reading the scandals in the News of the World but few of us will admit it. John Davies, Hampshire

Yes, I'm very proud to be British. I may not live in England anymore but 'till the day I die, I will always be proud to be able to say I'm British. I'm proud of British strength, and common decency. I'm proud that I was able to serve in the W.R.A.F. I'm proud of all the British people from the past and present who withstood the bombings of the wars, and of all the British people who worked hard and instilled in their children the values that makes the British who they are today. Please don't let your politicians, bow down to the EU and let them destroy British ways. No-one but the British people should dictate the future of Great Britain, too many good people have died to keep Great Britain. Maureen Biller

There are Scotsmen, there are Welshmen, there are Irishmen. When asked, I call myself an Englishman, not for any reason other than I was born in England. I was born in north east London in 1937. At three years of age I was sent off to somewhere in Essex with my gasmask, but was back home with my parents by 1944. People all across the British Isles from around my generation have good reason for patriotism and love of country, if only for support and admiration for the brave souls who laid down their lives for our freedom and the comradery of the people at home. However in 60 years things have become watered down drastically, most Brits - 25 or under - have never heard of Churchill, Nelson. And the Victoria Cross is just another train station somewhere in London. Come what may, I am an Englishman, away for 38 years, now retired, and back for two months each year to see all I have missed or never ever saw. More reason to be proud of one's heritage is the coming together of all Brits at the VE Day and Trafalgar Day celebrations and the steadfast reaction against misinformed hooligans, this witnessed by the whole free world. Reasons in order of importance for me leaving the UK, trade unions undermining the auto industry in which I worked, the English weather and a quest for adventure. Alan Stevens, California, USA

My idea of someone who is British is one who can take a camera, as Constable took his brushes, and capture the surroundings with a sense of appreciation and care. There should be a hidden talent to innovate and adapt to introductions of the styles that the new arrivals to the country inevitably bring. Finally a sense of tolerance that other parties have a point of view with less of the idea that the world revolves around themselves. Try levelling up not levelling down. Ian Smith, Bournemouth

Since the last election I have felt deeply ashamed to be British. Until then, the atrocity of the invasion of Iraq was the responsibility of the Blair Government, without a mandate from the people. With the re-election of Blair, that shame now rests completely with the British people. This is the democracy we are trying to impose on the Arab nations in return for their oil. Norman Wilcox, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Tradition for fair play, justice and the way of life. Sadly it is on a slow decline. Stan Smith, Lincoln

Being British means nothing to me, but I am very proud to be English. If you holiday in Europe people ask if you are British, you can guess my answer. If you holiday in the States people ask if you are English now that is respect. Stuart V J Perchard

I'm sorry, to spoil the party, but in common with more and more people, I do not accept that I am British. I am English, (and want Jerusalem as our national anthem). England, the country that dare not speak it's name - Churchill. The nation that makes up 85 per cent of the population of the UK, that contributes the most to the UK, that is being robbed and pillaged by this Scots dominated government, (via the Barnnett Formula). Since Scots devolution and the Welsh Assembly, the concept of Britain is finished. The problem is, it won't lie down whilst this government props it up in an attempt to support the Celtic Fringe at England's expense. JA Franklin, Orpington, Kent

As a child brought up during the war, we were marched from the school to the nearest cenotaph, where we sang hymns and Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem. Bonny Colne (the town we lived in) and others, being told what a great country we were. We went back to school feeling so proud to be British. To this day, I still get a lump in my throat and puff up with pride when I hear these tunes even though I am 69 and am often ashamed of some of the things done in our country's name. D Crew

As an Englishman I am proud to be a gentleman, to lose gracefully and to stand in queues. Oliver Clark, London

My view of Britishness is the antithesis of almost everything of the New Labour project. Michael Ford Bolton, Lancs
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July 27, 2005 at 09:13 AM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Seven shoot-to-kill alerts as PM backs tough laws

Yahoo! Mail - henderson_cr@yahoo.co.uk

The Metropolitan Police commissioner has revealed that his officers have been close to using their shoot-to-kill powers on seven separate occasions since the July 7 bombings.

Sir Ian Blair's comments came as the prime minister gave qualified backing to a call from the police to be allowed to detain terror suspects for up to three months without trial, from the current 14 days.

Despite doubts expressed by opposition party leaders Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy at a Downing Street meeting yesterday, Tony Blair said he supports the move in principle.

"I think it is perfectly reasonable for us, in circumstances of great difficulty, to have a greater detention in order that there can be interrogation of people who are suspected of doing this."

The prime minister also attacked judges who last year said tough anti-terror laws were a greater threat to the nation than terrorism itself.

"I doubt those words... would be uttered now," he told reporters at his monthly news conference.

And he defended his role in the war in Iraq, pledging to give "not one inch" to terrorists.

Meanwhile, the prime minister's wife has said that Britain must not allow the terrorist threat to undermine its commitment to the law and democracy.

Cherie Booth told 2,000 lawyers and dignitaries in Malaysia that there is inevitable conflict between the need for security and human rights.

July 27, 2005 at 09:10 AM in UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

July 26, 2005

Hunting the London bombers, shooting the wrong man

Hunting the London bombers, shooting the wrong man | Economist.com

Jul 25th 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda

London's police have admitted that the suspected suicide-bomber they gunned down on an Underground train in fact had nothing to do with the latest round of bombing attacks on the city's public-transport system. Police are still urgently seeking information on four men seen on security cameras at the scenes of the bombings

A FORTNIGHT after the four explosions that killed 56 people, Londoners’ reputation for “getting on with it” in spite of threats to their safety was put to the test again. At lunchtime on Thursday July 21st the city’s transport system was hit by explosions at four points—three almost simultaneous blasts on the London Underground and a fourth on a bus, the same as in the July 7th attacks. This time the explosions were small—it is believed that only the bombs’ detonators may have exploded, not their mai