Bombing suspects 'still in UK'

2005-07-24 16:24

London - Four suspects who fled after attempted bombings last week in London are probably still in Britain as the police anxiously await public sightings of them, London's police chief Ian Blair said on Sunday.

Blair said he was confident of a breakthrough in the "incredibly fast moving" investigation into deadly bombings on London's public transport system on July 7 and attempted bombings last Thursday, the biggest police probe in British history.

"We are still anxious for any sightings of the four individuals and there are inquiries all over London and indeed in the rest of Britain," Blair told Sky News.

Weekend papers were plastered with security camera pictures of the men, taken at three subway stations and a bus, prompting hundreds of phone calls to the police as well as e-mails, some containing pictures of possible suspects.

Reason

Asked if he believed whether the would-be bombers were still in Britain, Blair replied: "We have no reason to believe they're not."

Blair said police had also found a common thread between the July 7 bombings and Thursday's attempts, because both targeted Underground trains and buses and because of similarities in the explosives.

"The equipment in the (Thursday's) bombs had all the elements it should have and it didn't work," he said, adding police were still studying the explosives.

"We haven't proof there are linked but clearly there is a pattern," he said.

However, the investigation suffered a major setback on Friday morning when a man seen leaving an address linked to the bombers fled when he was challenged at a subway station, and after a brief chase was shot dead.

Emerged

Police said later that the dead man was a 27-year-old Brazilian with no link to the bombings. Blair said the man had emerged from a block of apartments under surveillance by the anti-terror investigators.

In another development, police said on Sunday they had carried out controlled explosions on a suspicious package in a park in northwest London which appeared to be linked to the failed attacks on London's transport system.

"An item was taken away for further examination," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The park, Little Wormwood Scrubs, was cordoned off on Saturday morning after a member of the public found the package.

The BBC quoted a local park worker as saying he had found a transparent package containing a beige substance with nails and bolts packed around it and wires protruding.

- AFP