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"Al-Qaeda not linked to 7/7"

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Al-Qaeda was not directly involved in the July 7 London bombings, though the four suicide bombers who carried out the attack may have been "inspired'' by its ideology, The Observer newspaper reported on Sunday quoting "leaks'' from an official inquiry report.

The newspaper said that the bombings, which claimed 52 lives and left hundreds injured, were the product of a "simple and inexpensive'' plot hatched by four young Britons using the Internet.

"Far from being the work of an international terror network, as originally suspected, the attack was carried out by four men who had scoured terror sites on the Internet. Their knapsack bombs cost only a few hundred pounds, according to the draft of the Government's definitive report into the blasts,'' it said.

"A simple affair"

An official source was reported as saying that the bombings were a "modest, simple affair by four seemingly normal men using the Internet''.

Of the four bombers — Siddique Khan, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer and Jermaine Lindsay — three were of Pakistani origin, though born and brought up in Britain. All four blew themselves up on the London Underground network on July 7 last year.

"According to the report, the attacks were largely motivated by concerns over foreign policy and the perception that it was deliberately anti-Muslim, although the four men were also driven by the promise of immortality,'' it said.

The report, compiled by a senior civil servant, is likely to be published in the next few weeks.

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