Bombers staged a 'dummy run'

2005-09-20 13:44

London - The four presumed London suicide bombers who killed themselves and 52 other people on July 7 staged a "dummy run" of their devastating attack the month before, a report said on Tuesday.

The four men, all British Muslims, travelled from their home city of Leeds, northern England before separating to visit their designated targets on the London Underground subway rail system, the Evening Standard newspaper said.

According to the London daily, which cited anonymous police and security sources, the apparent reconnaissance mission in late June was discovered by officers looking through hours of security camera footage.

"Burning cross"

The July 7 attacks saw three bombs explode near-simultaneously at Underground stations at points to the east, west and south of King's Cross, the mainline terminus where the bombers arrived by train.

A fourth blast ripped through a bus in the centre of London around an hour later.

According to Tuesday's report, the bombers had intended that the fourth bomb would explode on a subway train heading north of King's Cross, forming the so-called "burning cross" described in a later claim of responsibility from a group linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

However, one of the bombers, Hasib Hussain, was thwarted because northbound subway services were suspended. After a series of attempted phone calls to his fellow bombers - by now all dead - he boarded the bus, the report added.

Scanning camera footage for clues

Police have also been scanning the camera footage for signs of another cell of bombers, given that the July 7 attackers left a cache of bombs in a car at a rail station just north of London, the paper said.

A spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said the force had no immediate comment on the report.

Police have named Hussain, along with fellow Pakistani-origin Britons Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, and Jamaican-born Muslim convert Germaine Lindsay, as the presumed July 7 bombers.

Two weeks after the blasts an apparent repeat attack on trains and buses caused no injuries after the explosive devices seemingly failed to detonate. A series of suspects face criminal charges over those events.

- AFP