Bombings carried out by British terrorists

THE London terror bombings were the first suicide attacks on British soil and were carried out by homegrown terrorists, it was revealed last night.

One of the four suicide bombers was thought to be Shhzad Tanweer, 22, who was described by friends as a cricket-loving sports science graduate, and another of the bombers was only a teenager.

At least three of them are believed to have been British males of Pakistani origin who lived in West Yorkshire. Detectives are still unsure about the identity of the mystery fourth bomber.

A relative of one of the suspects was arrested in West Yorkshire yesterday and was being brought to London to be quizzed by the anti-terrorist branch.

Just 20 minutes before blowing themselves up, killing around 50 people, the four suicide bombers were captured on CCTV at King’s Cross station, talking casually as they carried their devices in rucksacks.

A senior security source, who had viewed the footage, said: “They were chatting. You would think they were going on a hiking holiday.”

The images, which were only spotted by detectives at 8pm on Monday, provided a crucial breakthrough in the police investigation which saw dramatic developments today, beginning with a series of dawn raids in West Yorkshire.

Bomb-making equipment was found at one of the six addresses raided in Leeds and Dewsbury. Later, police also found explosives in a car parked at Luton station, where the four bombers are thought to have met up, and a series of controlled explosions was carried out.

Detectives and the security services fear there could still be a second suicide bomb team waiting to strike and that an al-Qaida mastermind could have orchestrated the attacks before fleeing Britain.

The bombers appear to be the security services’ worst nightmare, so-called ‘clean skins’, apparently ordinary young men who had not previously come to the attention of the authorities.

“How many clean skins have we got waiting in the wings?” a senior security source said.

“What we don’t know is whether someone came in under the al-Qaida methodology, whether they came in, did the preparation and left the country the day before the attacks.”

Sources said there was “strong” forensic evidence linking Tanweer to the blast on the underground train near Aldgate.

His semi-detached home in the Beeston area of Leeds, where he had lived all his life, was sealed off yesterday.

The driving licence and cash cards of another suspect, who was 19 and from Leeds, were found in the mangled wreckage of the number 30 bus which blew up in Tavistock Square, killing 13 people.

He had told his parents he was going to London with friends on the day of the attacks and at 10.20pm that day they reported him missing to the police casualty bureau.

Documents belonging to a third suspect, who was 30 and from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, were found in the debris of the Edgware Road blast. All three men were believed to have been friends but not related.

They are thought to have used hire cars to travel from West Yorkshire to Luton last Thursday morning.