G8 already pledged to protect transport networks

International co-operation to protect underground and train networks against terrorist attack was agreed by G8 ministers less than three weeks ago.

A meeting of home affairs and justice ministers from the eight industrialised nations discussed the issue at a Sheffield summit last month.

Britain, the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy and France said they would unite to research ways to prevent explosions and other terror strikes on transport systems.

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said at the time: “We particularly agreed to work together about underground systems from our different countries to see what can be learned from the different issues that arise.”

Russian interior minister Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev said the joint work would encompass both railway and underground networks.

No details of the proposed research were announced, and it is unlikely to have even begun in such a short time.

The ministers also agreed to carry out wide-ranging research on how new generations become involved in terrorism.

They refused to say whether they would look specifically at whether the US’s detention of “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay has played a role in turning other Muslims to extremism.

Asked whether delegates believed the terrorist threat was increasing or being held stable, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said at the summit: “It is our opinion that the threat from terrorism is changing and we need to understand that change properly.

“I don’t think there is a single number which can say (it is) growing or going down.

“It’s a question of a changing threat and understanding that threat will be a very important part of how we work together.”

On the new programme examining how people turn to terrorism, he said: “The research will go through all possible sources of recruitment for terrorism and analyse from the bottom up how this happens and why it happens.

“We are not including or excluding any particular issues.

“There is a wide range of contributory factors which we think need to be taken into account.”

Asked whether the research would look at the US’s controversial Camp Delta detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Mr Clarke said: “It’s designed to look at issues absolutely in the round.”