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UK bombers 'are amateurs'
03/07/2007 11:01 - (SA)
London - The failure of three car bomb attacks in Britain betrayed an almost bungling execution of the plan even though there is a growing pool of militants ready to strike, European analysts said.
"There's no doubt at all that the would-be bombers who attacked London and Glasgow can best described as 'amateurs'," said Paul Beaver, an independent British security analyst.
Two cars packed with gas canisters and nails were left in London's entertainment district on Friday and two militants rammed a flaming car into Glasgow airport's main terminal the next day. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated there could be a link to al-Qaeda.
But a lack of technical know-how avoided explosions that could have caused carnage in each case, experts said.
"You can find videos on the internet from Iraq on how to booby-trap a car. But carrying it out is not as simple as people might think," said Dominique Thomas, a French anti-terrorism expert.
In the case of the London bombs, the detonators failed to set off the gas. According to media reports mobile phone calls were meant to set off the bombs but something went wrong.
Limits of learning terrorism on internet
Louis Caprioli, a former anti-terrorist chief for the French domestic intelligence agency, the DST, said the Glasgow operation "left the impression that these are people who wanted to die. They went to the airport with the vehicle but they could not master the delicate part of setting it on fire."
Caprioli said this probably meant the two attackers had not been trained in one of the specialist camps run by al-Qaeda and its allies. "Some of them may have a little knowledge but certainly no expertise," he commented.
And this shows the limits of learning terrorism on the internet.
"It is not the miracle solution that lets people master the process of making a bomb," said Caprioli.
Beaver, a former analyst for Jane's defence and intelligence publications, agreed that internet knowledge was not substantial enough to launch a terrorist attack.
Lacked hands-on training
"They have a high level of competence in science. But the actual mechanics of making bombs isn't as easy as the internet would make you think," he said.
The London and Glasgow attackers were not well prepared, he declared.
"Although they had all the constituent parts of a very nasty weapon, they didn't seem to have the wherewithal, the understanding to make it go bang, I suppose."
Beaver said he believed the plotters were educated people who had good theoretical knowledge but lacked hands-on training.
Officials and news reports said six of the eight people now in police custody in connection with the failed bombings were doctors. The latest to be held was an Indian physician in Australia.
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