Bomber tried to phone buddies

2005-08-24 19:09

London - One of the four London suicide bombers tried three times to call his accomplices before he blew himself up, a newspaper reported here Wednesday, saying it cast doubt on suggestions of an al-Qaeda link.

Citing security sources, the London Evening Standard said Hassib Hussain, 18, made the frantic calls, but got no reply because they had activated their devices minutes earlier.

It said the development had made security sources doubt whether there was, as suggested, an al-Qaeda mastermind or support network behind the carnage on July 7 as he would more likely have telephoned them for help.

Police at Scotland Yard refused to comment on the report.

The attacks on three London Underground subway trains and a bus killed 56 people, including the bombers.

Citing unnamed security sources and without using direct quotes, the paper said Hussain had intended to detonate his bomb on a subway train at the same time as the three others who were targeting trains going south, east and west on the London Underground.

He himself planned to strike a Northern line subway train going toward the north of the British capital, but a defective train closed the line.

Support network

The Evening Standard said Hussain made the calls at about 09:00 (08:00 GMT) - about 10 minutes after the three separate bombs went off.

It cited security sources as saying the calls showed it was unlikely that there was an al-Qaeda mastermind or support network involved as if there had been, Hussain would have called them for help.

They also suggested the choice of a bus was a spontaneous decision and not planned, and that a failed July 21 hit on the London transport network was a copycat mission - rather than a second attack by a different cell - because it also targeted three trains and a bus.

Thirteen people, including Hussain, were killed in the bus bomb, which was detonated nearly an hour after the first three.

- AFP