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CIA warned U.K. about bomber: book

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: In a new twist to the allegations about intelligence failures prior to the July 7 London bombings, American security officials have been quoted as saying that they had warned MI 5 two years before the attacks that Mohammed Sidique Khan, the alleged leader of the 7/7 plot, was a "very dangerous character'' and should be watched.

The claim is made by a leading U.S. writer on intelligence affairs, Ron Suskind, in his new book "The One Percent Doctrine," extracts from which have been published in a British newspaper.

Mr. Suskind, who is reputed to have close contacts in American intelligence and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995, claims that the CIA regarded Khan as such a serious threat that it issued an "alert'' against him, and put him on a "no fly list'' in March 2003 in a bid to prevent him from leaving Britain.

"Attack plan on synagogues"

This reportedly followed intelligence that Khan had booked a flight to New York, and was likely to meet alleged American Al-Qaeda activists in America with whom he had "exchanged e-mails discussing ... plans for various violent activities'' including a "desire to blow up synagogues in the East Coast''.

Mr. Suskind told The Times, which on Monday carried an extract from his book, that British intelligence was "certainly told about Khan in March and April 2003''. "British authorities were sent a very detailed file. This demonstrates a catastrophic breakdown in communications across the Atlantic,'' he said.

Last month, an official report of the British Government cleared intelligence agencies of any blame for the July 7 attacks but pointedly noted that Khan and another suicide bomber Shahazad Tanweer had been known to the security services but were not investigated fully.

The claim prompted fresh calls for an independent public inquiry into alleged intelligence failures before the July 7 attacks which claimed 52 lives and left hundreds injured and traumatised.

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