Fleeing bombers provoked UK's biggest ever manhunt

By Staff
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LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) The botched attempts to bomb London's transport system on July 21, 2005 led to the biggest manhunt ever conducted by British police, fearful that the would-be suicide bombers would strike a second time.

''Who knew whether they were going to come back and try again?'' said one senior police source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The timing of the attacks could hardly have been more dramatic. Just two weeks earlier, four young Britons carried out the first suicide bombings by militant Islamists in western Europe, killing 52 people on three underground trains and a bus.

The almost identical replica of these attacks left officers worried that they were facing a possible series of bombings.

Compounding police fears was the knowledge that the men who carried out the deadly train bombings in Madrid a year before had blown themselves up and killed a police officer after being cornered by security services.

Inspector ''Whisky Alpha'', a 45-year-old veteran of London police's firearms team, said those fears were prominent when he led a raid on a flat where two of the would-be bombers were holed up.

''We had all been aware of Madrid and we had all seen the footage,'' the officer said in comments released to the media.

''Although we had profiled suicide bombers and looked into their make-up and profiles, from the 7/7 scenario it became very evident that these people were home-grown terrorists and they were willing to kill themselves for cause.'' It was in this climate of fear that on July 22, the day after the botched attacks, armed police shot dead Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes after he was mistaken for one of the bombers.

He was gunned down on board an underground train at Stockwell station in south London.

Meanwhile detectives were sifting through 28,000 items taken from closed circuit TV cameras. In all it took 18,000 man hours for officers to watch all relevant footage.

Officers also discovered a treasure trove of forensic evidence at each of the scenes of the attempted bombings.

One bomber left his fingerprints in the train, another left behind his toothbrush, and another had put his gym membership card in his rucksack.

The first arrest came on July 27 when Yassin Hassan Omar, who fled to Birmingham dressed in his mother-in-law's burka and carrying a handbag, was apprehended.

Police found him standing in a bath and wearing a rucksack on his back. In the violent struggle that followed, armed officers said it was a miracle that he wasn't shot by one who had a gun cocked and aimed at Omar's head.

Two days later officers, Italian detectives had captured the last bomber, Hussein Osman, who had fled abroad on the Eurostar train service using someone else's passport.

Hours afterwards, officers raided the London flat belonging to another of the bombers Ramzi Mohammed who was hiding there with the plot's mastermind Muktah Said Ibrahim. Both were armed with ''homemade spears'', made out of mop handles and knives.

''Whisky Alpha'' outlined the dramatic, tense moments when officers moved in.

''Normally, we would go into a siege situation. But I'd sent my concerns back through the command chain that I wanted to attempt to get them out quicker than we would normally to stop them from doing anything that would jeopardise ourselves and the building,'' he said.

''Their two options were to surrender or blow themselves up.'' In a memorable scene played out in front of TV cameras, officers stormed the flat using stun grenades forcing the two suspects onto the balcony where they were pictured, looking bewildered, arms in the air and wearing just their underpants.

''Getting them out alive without having to shoot them was a great achievement,'' Whisky Alpha said.

Reuters SBC VP0006

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