New SA link to UK bombings
2005-07-28 23:25
Sarel van der Walt and Ivor Price
London - The suspected mastermind of the bomb attacks in London on July 7 hid in South Africa for several weeks before being arrested in Zambia last week.
CNN reported on Thursday that the man, a British national of Pakistani or Indian descent, made about 20 calls from a South African cellphone number to two of the bombers who attacked three underground trains and a bus.
The blasts killed 56 people, including the suicide attackers.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, is being questioned also about a jihad training camp he allegedly helped establish in Oregon, in the north-western United States.
According to CNN, the FBI wanted to arrest Aswat in South Africa.
However, their British counterparts would not agree to this.
In South Africa, national intelligence agency spokesperson Lorna Daniels refused to comment.
However, a security source told Erika Gibson it seemed that Aswat had fled to South Africa and that he had been kept under surveillance here.
The FBI wanted to question him about his ties with al-Qaeda.
US attempts to arrest him were made before Aswat travelled to Britain where, according to The Times website, he visited all four suicide bombers.
Intelligence sources say the King's Cross, Aldgate and Liverpool Street attacks were planned during his visit.
US and Zambian officials have confirmed Aswat's arest.
A spokesperson for Britain's home secretary would confirm only that a British national had been arrested and that their high commission was trying to gain access to the man.
There seems to be some confusion surrounding Aswat's arrest after reports last week that he had been arrested in Pakistan because of his ties with al-Qaeda.
The Associated Press reports that last week an American once accused of trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon was questioned about
Aswat.
That man, James Ujaama, a Muslim convert from Seattle, was charged in 2002 with trying to set up a terrorist training camp for Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.