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'Terrorists still in UK'
08/07/2005 13:35 - (SA)
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The British flag hangs half-mast at Gleneagles Hotel, the site of the G8 summit, in Scotland. (Ted S Warren, AP)
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London - Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair told reporters on Friday that it was "blindingly obvious" that another terror cell was probably hiding in Britain plotting other attacks after the London bombings.
"There is likely a cell" still in the country, he said.
He continued to say that the bomb attacks that killed at least 50 people and injured hundreds bore all the hallmarks of the al-Qaeda network. "This has all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda," he told a news conference, adding, however that the police were still only at the start of a "very complex" and lengthy investigation.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday that al-Qaeda seemed to be behind it.
"These outrages bear the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda related terrorist cells," he said. "That is obviously the principle assumption on which the police and intelligence agencies are operating."
But he said there was no evidence to suggest that suicide bombers were behind the series of deadly blasts. "There is absolutely nothing to suggest that this was a suicide bombing attack although nothing at this stage can be ruled out," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said of the attacks on three underground trains.
Blair said that in the case of the double-decker bus blown up there was also no indication that a bomber deliberately set off an explosive device while on board the vehicle.
"It may have been that, but it may have been a bomb left on a seat, it may have been a bomb that went off in transit," he said.
- AFP
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