LAT: Britain Sees More Links to Al Qaeda

[DeepModem Mom]

Britain Sees More Links to Al Qaeda
One bombing suspect knew alleged extremists arrested last year in a foiled plot, officials say.
By Sebastian Rotella, Times Staff Writer


LONDON — Investigators have linked one of the suspected London suicide bombers to a group of alleged extremists arrested here last year in a foiled terrorist plot by a Pakistan-based Al Qaeda group, authorities said Wednesday.

Mohamed Sidique Khan, a 30-year-old primary school teacher, has emerged as a key figure among the four suspected bombers, European and U.S. investigators said. Although officials had said that Khan and the other three were unknown to security personnel before last week's attack, investigators now think Khan was an associate of some of those arrested in last year's plot.

That strengthens suspicions that the London attacks were carried out by an Al Qaeda branch that teamed Pakistani masterminds with Pakistani British operatives and had tried to strike Britain before, investigators said.

Authorities believe that Khan and the other suspects, who traveled extensively to countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, received training from Al Qaeda specialists. Khan may have helped recruit and prepare his fellow bombers, who, like him, were Pakistani Britons from the northern city of Leeds, investigators said....

***

The Pakistani connection distinguishes the London bombings from other recent attacks in Europe, such as last year's Madrid train bombings, which allegedly were carried out by North African networks shuttling militants between Europe and Iraq — a battle theater dominated by a new generation of Al Qaeda figures such as Abu Musab Zarqawi...(T)he London case seems to point toward the classic inner core of Al Qaeda, whose surviving leaders are thought to be hiding in the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands. The London attacks also were the first suicide bombing attacks in Western Europe....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britbomb14jul14,0,5889357.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Does it matter what you call it

Al Qaaqaa or whatever..... bottomline they all muslims fanatics out for revenge.
Crazy US and UK took a religious war with all this branding. Going to be a lot of pain and effort to undo this.
What a BIG DISASTER damn teach you guys a lesson for letting a monkey steal the election.
Your senators all deserve a :spank: with the exception of Boxer