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UK cops not to blame for 7/7
30/03/2006 13:11 - (SA)
London - A parliamentary committee has cleared British intelligence and security services of negligence in the July 7 bombings, but said they should have learned more about British militant links with Pakistan, it was reported on Thursday.
The intelligence and security committee report does not accuse any agency of negligence over the suicide bombings on three London underground trains and a bus which killed 56 people, including the four bombers, the BBC reported.
The report, based on interviews with members of the police and intelligence community, was due to be handed to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The committee, composed of members of the governing Labour and opposition parties, accepted that gathering intelligence on the activities of British militants in Pakistan was extremely difficult prior to 7 July, the BBC said.
Could have done more
But it added it could have been done better.
Police said three of the bombers were British Muslims of Pakistani origin, at least two of whom, including suspected ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan, had visited Pakistan in the months before the bombings.
Counter-terrorism officials say Sidique Khan, who before July 7 was suspected of petty fraud and not terrorism, was considered a low priority to whom it was not worth diverting resources.
But the committee questioned why he was never fully investigated, despite being known to security officials, the BBC reported.
The committee is also critical of the complicated and secretive system of alert and threat levels.
The national threat level was lowered from "severe, general" to "substantial" just before July 7.
Committee members found this made no difference to the bombers' plans, but that the public needs to be better informed, the BBC reported.
Anthony Glees, head of the Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies at Brunel University, told BBC news he believed there was in the intelligence community.
"It is the body that is charged with having good predictive intelligence and what the London attacks show is that there was no good predictive intelligence," Glees said.
"They did not look carefully enough at the sort of people who might be tempted into becoming terrorists."
After meeting Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Summit in Malta in November, Blair said London and Islamabad were exchanging information on suspected militants travelling between both countries.
"It obviously is a serious worry for both of us," Blair said in response to a set of questions from AFP, adding that a clearer picture had emerged about the links since July 7.
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