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Silence in London

Ana María Echeverría & Mariano Andrade
London / AFP
07/15/2005

The streets of London fell silent at noon Thursday in memory of the victims of last week's bombings, with millions of people across Britain and Europe joining them in paying their own quiet tribute.

Police meanwhile released their first images of one of the bombers, and appealed to the public to come forward with even more clues to help their "fast-moving" investigation.

With the identities of the bombers falling into place, the investigation was focusing on who might have been the actual masterminds of the most deadly attack on British soil since World War II.

"That is the absolute focus of the current investigation," Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair told foreign journalists, as the number of confirmed dead rose to 54, with some 700 injured.

Eight of the injured are in critical condition, Blair revealed.
Londoners poured out of buildings into the hushed city streets for two minutes at noon (1100 GMT). Bus drivers turned off their engines, and taxis drew to a halt to pay their respects.

Flags flew at half staff as Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair joined in the tribute, the silence broken only by Big Ben tolling the 12 strokes of midday.

"It's important to show solidarity at a time like this," Michael Newport, an executive at Westminster City Council, told AFP after paying his respects at Trafalgar Square.

Several thousand people returned to the sun-soaked square -- decked out with a large " London United" banner -- later in the day for an evening vigil in memory of the victims.

The solemn tributes came as police stepped up their hunt for the masterminds of the attacks, in which bombs tore through three Underground subway trains and a red double-decker bus during the July 7 morning rush hour.

Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist squad, released two images of the bus bomber, Hasib Hussain, 18, including one from a closed-circuit TV camera that showed him toting a backpack. Thirteen people, including Hussain, died in the bus which Clarke said was carrying about 80 people, some of whom have not yet come forward to be interviewed by police.

"Did you see this man at King's Cross? Was he alone or with others? Do you know the route he took from the station? Did you see him get on a Number 30 bus, if you did where and when was that?" he asked.

The Times newspaper said detectives were anxious to determine if Hussain, unable to blow up a train, may have sought last-minute orders before changing his target to the bus.

Clarke also confirmed the identity of Shehzad Tanweer, 22, as the one responsible for bombing the Underground subway train at Aldgate, east London .
In a long-planned luncheon with the Foreign Press Association, Metropolitan Police commissioner Blair confirmed for the first time that all four were suicide bombers -- the first ever to strike in Britain.

"They went onto those Tubes or bus to kill, and presumably accepted they would be killed... You don't need to be a suicide bomber in a liberal democracy. They've chosen to be," he said.

He said the attacks "have every hallmark of Al-Qaeda," the global Islamic extremist network led by Osama bin Laden that carried out the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

Press reports have identified one of the other bombers as Mohammed Sadique Khan, 30, while Sky News television said the fourth was a Jamaican-born Briton named Lindsey Germail, 33, from Aylesbury, northwest of London .
An acquaintance of Sadique Khan said that he made annual trips to Afghanistan or Pakistan for military training.

A house in Aylesbury was the scene Thursday of ongoing forensic examination, as were premises in Leeds, in the north of England, that were raided by anti-terrorist police on Wednesday.

Police were reportedly convinced that the men -- none of whom was previously linked to terrorism -- were co-ordinated by a "mastermind" figure who equipped them with bombs and provided training and funds.

The Times said police had already identified the man thought to be the mastermind. It said the British-born man in his 30s, also of Pakistani origin, arrived at a British port last month and left the country again on July 6, the day before the attacks.

It said detectives were also urgently trying to find an Egyptian-born chemistry lecturer, M. Asdi el-Nashar, 33, who taught until recently at Leeds University.
The bombs on the London Underground trains -- near Aldgate, Edgware Road and King's Cross stations -- went off at around 8:50 am (0750 GMT), with the one on the bus exploding nearly an hour later.

Searches continued in the Beeston area of Leeds, home to three of the bombers. Several houses were evacuated and explosives experts used a robot to examine a house thought to have been used by them.

In an editorial, The Times said the moment of silence showed the bombers had failed to divide the nation. "A nation was united in grief, determination, and common humanity," it said.