Police follow North African connection
By Kim Sengupta and John Lichfield in Paris Published: 09 July 2005 As British security agencies pick up the pieces following the devastating bombings in London, the crucial question remains how they were caught so unaware. Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the London blasts bore " all the hallmarks of al Qa'ida". But he admitted that crucial information about those responsible is missing, adding that they are " are either at large in the UK or abroad or they are dead. I don't know which one of those it is". The key factor the police and MI5 have to ascertain is whether the bombers were "home-grown" or foreigners. The bombs used, all under 10 lbs, were likely to have been carried in rucksacks. Explosives expert Andy Oppenheimer, of Jane's Information Group, said: "These could have been home-made devices, they would not have been difficult to make. You do not need a huge amount of explosives to cause a lot of destruction. There is a great deal of pressure in a confined press such as this." The relative unsophistication of the devices could mean that "home-grown" militants were responsible. But most of them are closely monitored by MI5 and the police Special Branch and it is deemed unlikely they could have committed such an operation which came, as Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted, "out of the blue". The investigation may be examining a north African connection to the blasts after Scotland Yard and MI5 urgently requested European agencies to help track a London-based Moroccan. The search for Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, who has also been linked to terrorist attacks in Madrid and Casablanca, began after he disappeared from his home in London. Al-Gerbouzi, who has granted asylum in Britain, was sentenced to 20 years in absentia by a court in Morocco for his alleged involvement in bombings in Casablanca which killed 44 people in 2003. The north African, a British resident for 16 years, has been accused by French and German security services of connections with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of the insurgent group in Iraq connected to al-Qa'ida which murdered British hostage Ken Bigley. He is also an associate of Abu Qatada, one of the detainees released from Belmarsh in March this year. Mr Qatada was described by a British judge as a "truly dangerous" individual and by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe". The Moroccan government has made several attempts to have 45-year-old al-Gerbouzi, who they claim is the head of an organisation called the Group of Islamic Combatants, sent back to Morocco. Evidence later presented before a Moroccan court claimed he helped the Casablanca bombers obtain false passports and money. The British government has denied the Moroccan request because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. The Home Office has also said the Moroccan authorities failed to produce adequate evidence to justify an arrest. Morocco has presented further evidence to Scotland Yard. But al-Gerbouzi had, by then, disappeared from his council flat in Kilburn, north-west London. He said he had been questioned by MI5 agents but denied any connections with terrorism. In March last year, Spanish detectives investigating the bombing of commuter trains in March that killed 191 people, said that one of the suspects, Moroccan called Jamal Zougham, 31, made telephone calls to a landline and mobile telephone line in London belonging to al-Gerbouzi. Senior police sources in Brussels and Paris said they received requests on Thursday night from Scotland Yard and MI5 for all possible information about the recent movements and contacts of al-Gerbouzi. A spokeswoman for Europol, the European police information exchange agency, refused to confirm or deny a request has been made, adding merely: "We are providing information and intelligence to the UK authorities." It remains unclear whether the London attacks involved suicide bombers. Scotland Yard said yesterday that it was not ruling out the possibility, but, at the same time, there was nothing to suggest this was the case. But politicians both at home and abroad maintained that at least one of the attacks, which destroyed the double-decker bus at Tavistock Square, killing about 13 people, may have been caused by the bomber detonating an explosive device. Irish Premier Bertie Ahern declared: "It now looks clear from intelligence that that was the first suicide bombing on the United Kingdom and that again would bring a whole new perception of how you deal with this kind of act. If people are determined, if they are a cell of some Islamic group or al-Qa'ida, or some cell of it, this brings with it new dangers." But security sources are of the opinion that if the bomber did blow himself up on the No 30 bus it was by accident while the explosive device was being transported elsewhere. The bomb on the bus exploded towards the back on the upper deck. Investigators point out that the "normal" method of a bus bomber aiming to cause maximum damage would have been to stay on the lower deck near the stairwell. The Home Secretary said yesterday that the government was taking seriously the claim of responsibility for the London bombings by a group calling itself The Secret Organisation of al-Qa'ida in Europe. The claim was posted on a website run by a London based Iraqi-born doctor, Saad al-Fagih, from a house in Wimbledon, south-west London. Dr al-Fagih, head of an organisation called Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, had his assets frozen in December by the Bank of England after the US treasury claimed his website had been used to send clandestine messages to al-Qa'ida affiliated groups. US prosecutors also claimed that Al-Fagih had provided a satellite telephone for Osama bin Laden to help co-ordinate attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. On 21 December last year the US classified Dr al-Fagih as a specially designated global terrorist. Dr al-Fagih yesterday said his website was "in no way connected" with al-Qa'ida. He added that his daughter was travelling on the Tube to Aldgate at the time of the bombings. " She was going to do work experience at a Muslim magazine," he said. "Would I really let my child travel on a train if I was behind the explosions?" >From Morocco to Mujaheddin * Thousands of North Africans joined the Western-backed mujâhadîn in their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, proving to be some of the most dedicated recruits. Their training, both military and religious, took place at camps in Pakistan bankrolled by Osama bin Laden, right, and other fundamentalist patrons who urged them to continue the jihad against "apostate" regimes back home. Bin Laden and other wealthy Arabs, mainly Wahaabis from Saudi Arabia, subsidised the returning mujâhadîn as they started a bloody civil war in Algeria and attempted insurrections in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The North Africans also used their connections in Europe - mainly France - to set up Islamist cells which organised attacks in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Some of the most aggressive groups had headquarters in Britain and the British government went through a period of refusing demands from Arab governments and the French to extradite them creating, said the aggrieved governments, "Londonistan" where terrorists operated with impunity. As British security agencies pick up the pieces following the devastating bombings in London, the crucial question remains how they were caught so unaware. Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the London blasts bore " all the hallmarks of al Qa'ida". But he admitted that crucial information about those responsible is missing, adding that they are " are either at large in the UK or abroad or they are dead. I don't know which one of those it is". The key factor the police and MI5 have to ascertain is whether the bombers were "home-grown" or foreigners. The bombs used, all under 10 lbs, were likely to have been carried in rucksacks. Explosives expert Andy Oppenheimer, of Jane's Information Group, said: "These could have been home-made devices, they would not have been difficult to make. You do not need a huge amount of explosives to cause a lot of destruction. There is a great deal of pressure in a confined press such as this." The relative unsophistication of the devices could mean that "home-grown" militants were responsible. But most of them are closely monitored by MI5 and the police Special Branch and it is deemed unlikely they could have committed such an operation which came, as Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted, "out of the blue". The investigation may be examining a north African connection to the blasts after Scotland Yard and MI5 urgently requested European agencies to help track a London-based Moroccan. The search for Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, who has also been linked to terrorist attacks in Madrid and Casablanca, began after he disappeared from his home in London. Al-Gerbouzi, who has granted asylum in Britain, was sentenced to 20 years in absentia by a court in Morocco for his alleged involvement in bombings in Casablanca which killed 44 people in 2003. The north African, a British resident for 16 years, has been accused by French and German security services of connections with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of the insurgent group in Iraq connected to al-Qa'ida which murdered British hostage Ken Bigley. He is also an associate of Abu Qatada, one of the detainees released from Belmarsh in March this year. Mr Qatada was described by a British judge as a "truly dangerous" individual and by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe". The Moroccan government has made several attempts to have 45-year-old al-Gerbouzi, who they claim is the head of an organisation called the Group of Islamic Combatants, sent back to Morocco. Evidence later presented before a Moroccan court claimed he helped the Casablanca bombers obtain false passports and money. The British government has denied the Moroccan request because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. The Home Office has also said the Moroccan authorities failed to produce adequate evidence to justify an arrest. Morocco has presented further evidence to Scotland Yard. But al-Gerbouzi had, by then, disappeared from his council flat in Kilburn, north-west London. He said he had been questioned by MI5 agents but denied any connections with terrorism. In March last year, Spanish detectives investigating the bombing of commuter trains in March that killed 191 people, said that one of the suspects, Moroccan called Jamal Zougham, 31, made telephone calls to a landline and mobile telephone line in London belonging to al-Gerbouzi. Senior police sources in Brussels and Paris said they received requests on Thursday night from Scotland Yard and MI5 for all possible information about the recent movements and contacts of al-Gerbouzi. A spokeswoman for Europol, the European police information exchange agency, refused to confirm or deny a request has been made, adding merely: "We are providing information and intelligence to the UK authorities." It remains unclear whether the London attacks involved suicide bombers. Scotland Yard said yesterday that it was not ruling out the possibility, but, at the same time, there was nothing to suggest this was the case. But politicians both at home and abroad maintained that at least one of the attacks, which destroyed the double-decker bus at Tavistock Square, killing about 13 people, may have been caused by the bomber detonating an explosive device. Irish Premier Bertie Ahern declared: "It now looks clear from intelligence that that was the first suicide bombing on the United Kingdom and that again would bring a whole new perception of how you deal with this kind of act. If people are determined, if they are a cell of some Islamic group or al-Qa'ida, or some cell of it, this brings with it new dangers." But security sources are of the opinion that if the bomber did blow himself up on the No 30 bus it was by accident while the explosive device was being transported elsewhere. The bomb on the bus exploded towards the back on the upper deck. Investigators point out that the "normal" method of a bus bomber aiming to cause maximum damage would have been to stay on the lower deck near the stairwell. The Home Secretary said yesterday that the government was taking seriously the claim of responsibility for the London bombings by a group calling itself The Secret Organisation of al-Qa'ida in Europe. The claim was posted on a website run by a London based Iraqi-born doctor, Saad al-Fagih, from a house in Wimbledon, south-west London. Dr al-Fagih, head of an organisation called Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, had his assets frozen in December by the Bank of England after the US treasury claimed his website had been used to send clandestine messages to al-Qa'ida affiliated groups. US prosecutors also claimed that Al-Fagih had provided a satellite telephone for Osama bin Laden to help co-ordinate attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. On 21 December last year the US classified Dr al-Fagih as a specially designated global terrorist. Dr al-Fagih yesterday said his website was "in no way connected" with al-Qa'ida. He added that his daughter was travelling on the Tube to Aldgate at the time of the bombings. " She was going to do work experience at a Muslim magazine," he said. "Would I really let my child travel on a train if I was behind the explosions?" >From Morocco to Mujaheddin * Thousands of North Africans joined the Western-backed mujâhadîn in their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, proving to be some of the most dedicated recruits. Their training, both military and religious, took place at camps in Pakistan bankrolled by Osama bin Laden, right, and other fundamentalist patrons who urged them to continue the jihad against "apostate" regimes back home. Bin Laden and other wealthy Arabs, mainly Wahaabis from Saudi Arabia, subsidised the returning mujâhadîn as they started a bloody civil war in Algeria and attempted insurrections in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The North Africans also used their connections in Europe - mainly France - to set up Islamist cells which organised attacks in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Some of the most aggressive groups had headquarters in Britain and the British government went through a period of refusing demands from Arab governments and the French to extradite them creating, said the aggrieved governments, "Londonistan" where terrorists operated with impunity. _____ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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