http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/23/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Bombings-Tri al.php
Lawyer accuses suspect in failed London transit attacks of conspiring with July 7 bombers By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press Writer LONDON One of six men suspected of plotting to bomb London's public transport system on July 21, 2005 was accused in court of conspiring with suicide bombers who killed scores of bus and subway passengers two weeks earlier. He denied the claim _ the first formal allegation that the two attacks were linked. The accusation took place Thursday but could only be reported Friday when a court-imposed reporting restriction was lifted. Lawyer Stephen Kamlish said suspect Muktar Said Ibrahim had visited Pakistan at the same time as two of the July 7 bombers who killed 52 bus and subway passengers. Police have always refused to speculate on whether there was a link between the failed July 21 bombings, in which no one was hurt, and the blasts two weeks earlier _ London's deadliest terrorist attack. Three men suspected of assisting the July 7 bombers were being questioned Friday at a high-security London police station. Their arrest Thursday in northern England was the first major development in the investigation in months. No one has ever been charged over the July 7 attacks. Kamlish said the July 7 and July 21 attackers used similar bombs made "from hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance" _ the only time such devices have been used in Britain. In both cases, the targets were three subway trains and a double-decker bus. On Thursday, Kamlish _ who represents co-defendant Manfu Asiedu _ accused Ibrahim, 29, of plotting a terrorist attack "bigger and better than 7/7." Kamlish told jurors at London's Woolwich Crown Court that Ibrahim wanted to detonate four bombs on the transit system and destroy an apartment building with a booby-trapped device. Ibrahim _ who has acknowledged being the "emir," or leader, or the group of suspects _ has admitted making backpack bombs from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and flour, but says he deliberately built them so they would not explode. He claims the July 21 attacks were a hoax intended to protest Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. Ibrahim also has said he visited Pakistan between December 2004 and March 2005 _ overlapping with trips by Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the four July 7 bombers _ but denied ever meeting them. "The only two occasions on which the authorities in this country had ever come across an improvised explosive device made from hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance was the 7th of July and the 21st of July ... and you were in Pakistan at the same time (as Khan and Tanweer)," Kamlish said. "You see the coincidence, don't you?" "When you say this fact, yes," Ibrahim replied. Ibrahim; Asiedu, 33; Yassin Omar, 27; Adel Yahya, 24; Hussain Osman, 28; and Ramzi Mohamed, 25, all deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The six accused had been expected to present a common defense, but Asiedu broke ranks this week to turn on Ibrahim. He sat apart from the other defendants in the dock, surrounded by guards for his own protection. Kamlish claimed Asiedu had only been informed of the bomb plot the morning of the attack, and had refused to carry a device onto the subway system. His knapsack bomb was found abandoned in a London park several days later. Meanwhile, police in Leeds, northern England, searched five properties Friday in connection with the July 7 investigation. One of the men arrested Thursday was detained in the city, which was home to three of the July 7 bombers. Two others were picked up at Manchester Airport as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan Police kept up a low-key presence on the streets as officers searched five properties in the ethnically mixed Beeston area of Leeds. Abdul Wahweed, who runs the Gee Gee Cars taxi service, said one of the three arrested men worked for him as a taxi driver but quit two weeks ago, saying he was going to Pakistan to deal with family problems. "He was always working. He never talked about bombing or politics or religion or anything like that," Wahweed said. The three arrested men, aged 23, 26 and 30, are not suspected of being key players in the bombings, or of having directed the attack or assisted in making the backpack bombs, said an informed British security expert, who requested anonymity in return for discussing details of British counterterrorism work. ___ Associated Press Writers David Stringer in London and Tariq Panja in Leeds contributed to this report. 070324 001234 Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. 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