'London terror cells training link'

[emad]

'London terror cells training link'
19 August 2005

The two terror cells which targeted London last month could be linked through their training, Britain's most senior police officer has said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said it appeared the two gangs may have followed the same "set of instructions".

Sir Ian said the similarities in their "methodologies" suggested that there could still be another cell waiting to strike.

There has never been any definitive answer to whether the four July 7 suicide bombers who killed 52 people were linked to those responsible for the four attempted attacks on July 21, although more recent reports have claimed they were not.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/PA_NEWA13729011124451027A0?source=PA%20Feed

[Benbow]

1. Or even through the gyms they attended

Apparently they were radicalised at the gym, not at/outside mosques. Explains why they are all so fit-looking.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

2. TO be perfectly honest,

I refuse to believe a single word Blair has to say on anything until he does the honorable thing and resigns.

[lockdown]

3. Rafting "training" perhaps?

Another poster, of J.Temperance, linked to this recently, which is from last year and talks up fears that al-Qaeda have infiltrated the Territorial Army (part-time reserves). It includes this bit:

MI5 and Scotland Yard has known for at least two years that as well as targeting the TA, Al-Qaeda recruiting sergeants in mosques are sending potential recruits on outward-bound courses to improve their fitness and undergo mock weapons training.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1313759_2,00.html

Whether there's anything to that or not, it shows they believed even before the bombings that outdoor activities centres were being used by "al-Qaeda".

The current investigation has revealed two of the July 7th bombers went whitewater rafting weeks beforehand, leading to much speculation along the lines of what they'd "known for at least two years" had gone on. They've subsequently hinted that there are links between the attempted July 21st bombings and the same rafting centre, but nothing solid has been revealed that I'm aware of.

Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer are believed to have ridden the rapids at Canolfan Tryweryn, the National Whitewater Centre in Bala, north Wales, just weeks before the first attacks. Photographs of the trip show Khan, who detonated a device at Edgware Road Underground station, raising a two-fingered peace sign and Tanweer, the Liverpool Street bomber, leaning forward.

Officers believe that a number of people who are linked to addresses raided over the weekend may also have been on the whitewater trip at around the same time. One theory is that it may have been a "bonding" exercise, though an innocent connection cannot be ruled out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/25/nsusp25.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/25/ixnewstop.html

Police are examining a possible link between those involved in Thursday's attacks and a whitewater rafting trip.

Two of the 7 July bombers rode the rapids at Canolfan Tryweryn, the National Whitewater Centre, in Bala, north Wales weeks before the attack.

Officers believe several people with links to addresses being investigated in relation to the 21 July attack may have also been on a trip at the centre.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4711533.stm

Maybe that's part of the "training" they are hinting at in continuing to talk up links between the two sets of bombers? In other words, maybe the investigators are grasping at tenuous leads that fit their preconceptions, and drawing wild conclusions. ;)