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MI5 under fire over 7/7 bombers Pressure grows for a 7/7 inquiry
(about 3 hours later)
A parliamentary committee is to examine MI5's handling intelligence about two of the 7 July London suicide bombers. Survivors and relatives of victims of the 7 July attacks are stepping up the pressure for an inquiry into MI5's handling of intelligence.
On Monday, five men were given life sentences for a foiled plot to build a huge fertiliser bomb for a UK attack. On Monday it emerged at the end of a year-long terror trial that MI5 had two of the 7 July plotters under surveillance a year before the attacks.
It emerged that MI5 tailed two of the 7/7 bombers while investigating that case, but took no action. But Home Secretary John Reid ruled out an inquiry into MI5's failures.
MI5's chief said it had done all it could. But the Intelligence and Security Committee will look again at why the 7/7 bombers were not picked up. A letter to Mr Reid calling for an inquiry will be delivered later by members of the 7/7 Inquiry Group.
MI5 is facing questions over what it told MPs about the suicide bombers. On Monday five men were given life sentences for a foiled plot to build a huge fertiliser bomb for a UK attack.
The committee, which oversees the work of security services and comprises MPs and Lords, is also expected to examine claims that West Yorkshire Police special branch was not told about the MI5 surveillance operation. It emerged during the trial that MI5 had tailed London suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer while investigating that case, but took no action.
Committee chairman Paul Murphy MP has indicated that police were informed. Rachel North, who survived the blast on the Piccadilly Line train in 2005, said she was shocked and appalled when she learned that Khan and Tanweer were not the "clean skins" she had believed.
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1177955130/html/1.stm" onClick="window.open('http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1177955130/html/1.stm', '1177955209', 'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=400,height=478,left=312,top=100'); return false;">Under surveillance: Picture from 2004, more than a year before London bombings. href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1177955130/html/1.stm" onClick="window.open('http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1177955130/html/1.stm', '1177955209', 'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=400,height=478,left=312,top=100'); return false;" >Enlarge Image 'On the radar'
During the fertiliser plot investigation, the security service watched two of the London suicide bombers - ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer. She said: "Now that we have discovered these men were very much on the radar of the security service and could have been stopped, that is going to be very difficult to come to terms with.
They came under surveillance as MI5 watched the fertiliser bomb plotters in early 2004 - 15 months before Khan, Tanweer and two other men killed 52 people in London.
Meanwhile, the revelation that one of the 7 July bombers met up with one of the fertiliser bomb plotters - Omar Khyam - at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan has caused concern.
However, the head of Pakistan's National Crisis Management Centre, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, said those who attended such camps had already been radicalised.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What we need to understand is that a person who spends a lot of money and travels to Pakistan...[is] already motivated for a particular reason, a particular cause or for an objective."
Rachel North, who survived the blast on the Piccadilly Line train, said she was shocked and appalled when she learned the true picture.
WHAT MI5 TOLD COMMITTEE We have been told in evidence that none of the ... 7 July group had been identified (that is named and listed) as potential terrorist threats prior to July ISC report into MI5, 2006
"Now that we have discovered these men were very much on the radar of the security service and could have been stopped, that is going to be very difficult to come to terms with," she said.
"This has fuelled my desire for an independent inquiry because it appears we have not been told the truth about what happened and what we knew about these bombers prior to 7/7.""This has fuelled my desire for an independent inquiry because it appears we have not been told the truth about what happened and what we knew about these bombers prior to 7/7."
One critical issue is what MI5 told both the public and politicians in the wake of the 7 July attacks. The media were briefed that Khan and fellow bombers were "clean skins" - men with no previous record of terrorist associations.
The Intelligence and Security Committee later reported that Khan was not "named and listed" by MI5 before the bombings.
Its chairman, Mr Murphy, told the BBC on Monday that he stood by the committee's findings.
Speaking to the BBC's Newsnight, he said MI5 had not identified Khan "until after he died".
Evidence following the end of the trial reveals MI5 photographed Khan as he met other extremists, followed him home - and by the summer of 2004 they knew his surname and that he owned a car.
EVIDENCE SINCE TRIAL Khan followed Feb 2004Photographed with extremistsRecorded talking with plot ringleaderHome address seenCar ownership and surname known June 04EVIDENCE SINCE TRIAL Khan followed Feb 2004Photographed with extremistsRecorded talking with plot ringleaderHome address seenCar ownership and surname known June 04
Home Secretary John Reid has dismissed calls from some MPs and campaigners for an inquiry into the 7 July bombings, saying it would not be the "correct response". But Paul Dadge, who also survived the London bombings, said it was easy to be critical with hindsight.
"It would divert the energies and efforts of so many in the security service and police who are already stretched greatly in countering that present threat," he said. He said he believed the attacks may have been prevented if the leads had been followed but argued that it was important to praise the security services for successfully securing convictions.
"Our responsibility as a government is to try and minimise the chances of any other group of families ever having to suffer as the families of 7/7 did suffer." Mr Reid has rejected the need for an inquiry and said it would divert too many MI5 officers from the job of foiling other terrorist plots.
But Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "The information revealed in this trial will spark widespread public concern and debate about the operational capabilities of the security service, and the reliability of government information in the aftermath of the 7 July bombings." But he has asked the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to consider why the 7 July bombers were not picked up.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said MI5's unprecedented decision to rebut the allegations on its website was "not the answer". The committee, which comprises MPs and Lords, is expected to examine claims that West Yorkshire Police special branch was not told about the MI5 surveillance operation.
"Whether deliberately or not, the government have not told the British public the whole truth about the circumstances and mistakes leading up to the July 7 attacks," he said. ISC chairman Paul Murphy MP has indicated that police were informed.
'Divert energy'
Tony Blair has also rejected calls for a public inquiry, although he said he "totally" understood why some people sought one.
The row has taken the shine off the conviction of the five men
He told GMTV: "The problem if you have an independent public inquiry into something like this is you will divert all their energy and attention into trying to answer the questions that come up in the inquiry."
Former home secretary David Blunkett said there was no need for a public inquiry "because it is lengthy, expensive and it presumes that we don't have the facts, and we do".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It would be a great boon for the terrorists, and those associated with them, to see us to trawl the exact detail of everything that went on."
These comments follow suggestions that the 7 July attacks could have been avoided.
'Clean skins'
"We shouldn't lose sight of the five who were locked up," he said, adding that it is "a shame" that the success of security services had been overlooked."
One critical issue is what MI5 told both the public and politicians in the wake of the 7 July attacks.
The media were briefed that Khan and fellow bombers were "clean skins" - men with no previous record of terrorist associations. Evidence following the end of the trial reveals MI5 photographed Khan as he met other extremists, followed him home - and by the summer of 2004 they knew his surname and that he owned a car.
WHAT MI5 TOLD COMMITTEE We have been told in evidence that none of the ... 7 July group had been identified (that is named and listed) as potential terrorist threats prior to July ISC report into MI5, 2006
The revelation that one of the 7 July bombers met up with one of the fertiliser bomb plotters - Omar Khyam - at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan has caused concern.
However, the head of Pakistan's National Crisis Management Centre, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, said anyone "who spends a lot of money and travels to Pakistan...[is] already motivated for a particular reason".
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell responded to details that emerged in bomb plot trial by saying it would "spark widespread public concern and debate about the operational capabilities of the security service, and the reliability of government information in the aftermath of the 7 July bombings".
And Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "Whether deliberately or not, the government have not told the British public the whole truth about the circumstances and mistakes leading up to the July 7 attacks."