The Hindu : International : Madrid angle to London blasts

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Monday, Jul 11, 2005

International

International

Madrid angle to London blasts

Hasan Suroor

Thousands evacuated from Birmingham city centre after bomb scare

— PHOTO: AP

FEAR OVER THE CITY: Guests bide their time outside their hotel after they were evacuated following a security alert in the city centre of Birmingham, England, on Saturday.

LONDON: The man, who allegedly masterminded the Madrid train bombings last year, was on Sunday reported to be emerging as one of the suspects behind last Thursday's explosions on the London Underground in which at least 50 persons were killed and hundreds injured.

He was identified as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian-born Spanish national, with links to Britain. He was alleged to have organised Al-Qaeda "sleeper'' cells in the country for launching a terrorist attack to coincide with the general elections in May.

Investigators mum

Officially, security agencies were tight-lipped about their line of inquiry and made clear that they were not looking for any specific individual, but the British media quoted sources as saying that Nasar was "one of many suspects''.

The Sunday Times said that Spanish security forces had warned four months ago that Nasar had "identified'' Britain as a likely target of a terrorist attack. It claimed that "coded commands'' attributed to Nasar and seized from a flat after the Madrid bombings were thought to have included threats to other European countries, including Britain.

"Spanish investigators said Nasar, now believed to be in Iraq, had set up a "sleeper" cell in Britain. But they believed he was planning an attack to coincide with the British general election in May, rather than the G-8 summit last week... Nasar is at the centre of a network of connections uncovered by British and Spanish police between Britain and Madrid bombings,'' the newspaper said.

Another suspect was said to be Zeeshan Hyder Siddiqui, a 25-year-old British national who was arrested in Pakistan recently for his alleged Al-Qaeda links.

Amid feverish speculation as to who might have been behind Thursday's carnage, the former Metropolitan Chief John Stevens ruled out the involvement of foreign terrorists and insisted that it was the work of British-born extremists. He dismissed as "wishful thinking'' theories suggesting that people from outside Britain were behind the bombings. In his opinion, the attack was "almost certainly'' carried out by British-born citizens "brought up here and totally aware of British life and values''.

Meanwhile, thousands of people were evacuated from Birmingham city centre on Saturday night after suspicious-looking package found on a bus triggered a security alert.

The security level across the country has been raised amid warnings that terrorists could strike again.

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