'Bomber suspect not al-Qaeda'
2005-07-16 08:45
Cairo - Egyptian interior minister Habib al-Adly said Egyptian citizen Magdy Mahmud Mustafa Nashar, arrested in Cairo on suspicion of involvement in the July 7 London terror attacks, "has no links with the al-Qaeda network."
In a statement published Saturday but the daily Al Gumhuriya, the minister said media reports about Nashar, 33, "are unfounded and are only hasty deductions."
Adly said "the reports that British officers had interrogated him before Egyptian officials lacked details," thus not ruling out that British inquirers had taken part in the questioning.
The ministry had said on Friday that Nashar "is being investigated to find out whether he was involved in the bombings that recently took place in London."
Denied involved in terrorism
An interior ministry statement said the suspect "has denied any involvement in the London bombings."
"He said he had gone to Britain to study at Leeds University and has resided in Britain since 2000 until now to obtain his doctorate, which he did earlier this year.
"He said he had come back to Egypt for a month and a half holiday and was planning to go back to Britain to resume his studies and that all his belongings are still in his flat in Leeds" the statement said, adding that "the investigation would go on."
Nashar was nabbed late on Thursday in Cairo's southern suburb of Maadi, in the working class neighbourhood of Bassatin, security sources told AFP earlier on Friday.
The United States network ABC News reported the arrest on Friday, saying a man named Magdy Nashar was the bomb-maker behind the attacks on three Underground trains and a double-decker bus that killed at least 54 people and wounded some 700.
Citing sources including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, ABC said the detained man was suspected of having helped set up the attackers' bomb factory and left Britain two weeks before the blasts.
Previous reports in Britain said police were seeking a man with a similar name who had been studying for a doctorate in chemistry at Leeds University, in the same city where three of the suspected bombers lived.
The Egyptian interior ministry said Nashar had obtained a Bachelor of Science in 1994 from Cairo University and has been a researcher at the National Research Council.
British police said Friday they were "aware" of an arrest in Egypt in connection with the investigation into last week's London bombings.
"We are aware of an arrest made in Cairo but are not prepared to discuss if we may or may not wish to interview (the person) in connection with this investigation," a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police told AFP.