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7/7: intelligence failure?

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Barely 24 hours before the London bombings of July 7, 2005, in which 52 persons were killed, head of Britain's intelligence agency MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, reportedly told senior Labour MPs that there was no imminent threat of a terrorist attack.

The disclosure has shocked families of the victims and prompted calls for an independent inquiry into persistent allegations of intelligence failure in the weeks before the 7/7 bombings.

There was some confusion on Tuesday what exactly Dame Eliza told the MPs. The Guardian quoted a "number of those present'' at a private meeting of Labour whips on July 6 as saying she gave them an assurance that there was "no imminent threat to London or the rest of the country''.

"The whips are said to have been confident that they could brief fellow MPs that the security situation was under control, and are said to have been deeply alarmed by the following day's events,'' it said. But, according to anonymous security sources quoted by The Times and The Daily Telegraph, she did not use those words.

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