Scotland Yard held a news conference today revealing some details suggesting that the London bombings might have been done by 4 suicide bombers. Indeed, besides the probable suicide bomber on the bus (who has been tentatively identified), documents with the names of two of his friends were found on the trains, which at least suggests that they did not survive.
The Guardian reports:
Police are investigating whether four attackers died in last week’s London subway and bus bombings and have arrested one suspect after a series of raids Tuesday in Leeds, a northern city with a strong Muslim community.
At least three of the suspected bombers came from the West Yorkshire region, which includes Leeds, said Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch.
Closed-circuit TV video showed that all four had arrived at King’s Cross station by 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, about 20 minutes before the blasts began that killed at least 52 people, Clarke said.
In a Scotland Yard news conference, Clarke said police had “strong forensic and other evidence” that the man believed to have carried a bomb onto the subway train that exploded between the Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations died in the blast, and they were awaiting confirmation from the coroner. Police were trying to determine whether the other three also died in the explosions.
Police indicated that there had been a breakthrough in their inquiry.
“The investigation quite early led us to have concerns about the movements and activities of four men, three of whom came from the West Yorkshire area. We are trying to establish their movements in the run-up to last week’s attacks, and specifically to establish if they all died in the explosions,” Clarke said.
One of the suspects had been reported missing by his family at 10 a.m. Thursday, and some of his property was found on the double-decker bus in which 13 died, Clarke said. The family said the man had traveled to London with three other men.
Investigators also found personal documents bearing the names of two of the other men three near seats on the Aldgate and Edgware lines. Police did not identify the men.
Acting on six warrants stemming from those developments, British soldiers blasted their way into a modest Leeds row house Tuesday to search for explosives and computers. Streets were cordoned off and about 500 people were evacuated. Hours earlier, police searched five residences elsewhere in the city.
So it appears that Debka.com may be right in its speculations about the terrorists being suicide bombers. Besides the forensic evidence that Scotland Yard refers to, Debka says that the small size of the bombs was more consistent with suicide bombers. Debka also claims that the bombs were detonated when other trains or buses were adjacent, a claim that I have not seen addressed elsewhere. It appears that Debka may have also been correct about the explosives used being the same as used in the Mike’s Place bombing in 2003 in Tel Aviv, which was committed by British radical Islamicists. So far there is nothing to support other Debka speculations: that there were 6-8 suicide bombers and that the bombers wore vests.
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