'High risk' of more strikes by London bombers

There is a “genuinely high risk” of repeat attacks by the bombers who inflicted carnage on London last week, terrorism experts warned today.

Dr Andrew Silke said comparisons with the terror cell responsible for the Madrid bombings in March last year suggested it was highly likely the July 7 bombers would strike again.

“It is a very serious possibility. There is a genuinely high risk,” said the academic from the University of East London.

“In the case of the Madrid bombers, they were hanging around with the intent to carry out more attacks. They were only prevented from doing so because the police were able to identify and catch them quickly.

“The Spanish police were extremely fortunate in that one of the bombs had not exploded and gave them forensic evidence to close in on the bombers.”

Just 23 days after the Madrid bombings, seven suspects blew themselves up as police prepared to enter a flat on the city’s southern outskirts.

Professor Paul Rogers, of Bradford University’s Department of Peace Studies, said the bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 showed that comparable terror groups did have the capability to launch repeat attacks within days.

The HSBC bank and the British Consulate in Istanbul were attacked five days after two synagogues in the Turkish city had been targeted.

“That was four bombs on two occasions within a week,” he said. “And in Madrid the authorities were convinced that the bombings there were the start of a bigger campaign. One does not want to scaremonger but there must be a fair risk of further attacks in London.”

However, it would now be “hugely more difficult” for terrorists to operate, Prof Rogers added, due to heightened security and even the possibility of information on the perpetrators being leaked to police by informers.

“One cannot surmise whether these groups will go to ground completely or are sufficiently confident of being hidden to carry on,” he said.

“The big worry is that they have sufficient safe houses to carry on with another attack, which is what appeared to be the case in Madrid.”

Dr Silke, who serves on the United Nations’ roster of terrorism experts, predicted the July 7 terrorists would wait until the transport system had been fully restored before launching further bombings.

It was also possible they would switch targets to crowds or overland train stations, he said.

“It makes sense for them not to carry out an attack straight away,” he said. "If you were a terrorist you would like a chance for the system to recover and hit once it had recovered.

“They will recognise that they will not be able to fundamentally cripple the system. But they could change approaches on their targets, and go for a sporting event, for example, or, instead of hitting the Underground, they might attempt to bomb train stations.

“One would hope that the range of tactics that they have available is not going to be very extensive.”