CAIRO, Egypt - Two of the four suicide bombers who attacked London last July
7 spent time at an al-Qaida camp to prepare themselves for a suicide mission,
the deputy leader of the terror network claimed in a video Friday.
This image released by
IntelCenter on Friday July 7, 2006 purportedly shows Shehzad Tanweer, one
of the suicide bombers who struck London's transit system a year ago
warning in a video broadcast Thursday July 6, 2006 that the attacks were
only the beginning of a campaign of terror. The logo and name As-Sahab,
bottom right are al-Qaida's media production wing. IntelCenter is a
private contractor working for intelligence agencies.
[AP] |
British authorities previously said they knew Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad
Sidique Khan had visited Pakistan, but the comment from al-Qaida No. 2 man Ayman
al-Zawahri was the first to claim that they had been at an al-Qaida base.
"Both of them were seeking martyrdom and wished that they could carry out a
martyrdom operation," al-Zawahri said, using the Islamic euphemism for a suicide
attack.
It was not possible to independently verify his claim, which was part of a
video posted on the Internet on the first anniversary of the suicide bombings
that killed 52 commuters on three subway trains and a bus in London.
The video also contained a harangue by an English-speaking al-Qaida member
against British and U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Asia, saying no
Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by al-Qaida attacks.
The speaker was identified with the Arabic nickname "Azzam al-Amriki" — Azzam
the American. That name has been used in previous al-Qaida videos by a man
identified as Adam Gadahn, a Californian who converted to Islam and has been
sought by the FBI since in 2004 on suspicion of attending an al-Qaida training
camps in Pakistan.
Al-Zawahiri did not say when the two London bombers trained at the al-Qaida
camp or where it was. The group is believed to have bases along the
Pakistani-Afghan border, a rugged region where many experts think Osama bin
Laden and al-Zawahiri may be hiding.
Al-Zawahiri said that while at the camp, Tanweer and Khan paid no heed to
militants who discussed matters unrelated to suicide attacks, "because the goal
for which they came to al-Qaida's jihad base was to carry out a martyrdom
operation."
A security analyst at the London think-tank Chatham House, Bob Ayers, said
the claim contradicted the British police finding that there was no evidence
linking the four London bombers to al-Qaida.
"It makes the police look pretty bad," Ayers said. "It means the
investigation was either wrong, or they had identified links, but were reluctant
to reveal them."
The 31-minute video appeared on an Islamic Web site known for carrying
militant messages and was released to coincide with the first anniversary of the
London bombings. A heavily edited version was broadcast Thursday by Al-Jazeera
television.
"The coordinated timing of the tape shows these guys did not act
independently and were at a minimum supported by al-Qaida if not recruited,
trained and supported by them," Ayers said.
Spokesmen at the Foreign Office and London's Metropolitan Police said they
could not comment because they had not seen the tape.
