London bombers triggered blasts by hand - paper

[maddezmom]

LONDON (Reuters) - Four suicide bombers who killed 52 people in attacks on London's transport network on July 7 triggered the blasts by hand rather than by mobile phones as previously suggested, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Guardian, citing unidentified senior police and anti-terrorism sources for its information, said the four British Muslims who blew themselves up on three trains and a bus used "button-like" devices to set off the bombs.

"There were no mobile phone timers on (July 7)," the Guardian quoted one source as saying. "They were manually activated."

The newspaper said the discovery was a breakthrough in the investigation into the bombings.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050824/wl_nm/security_britain_dc

and Guardian link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1555215,00.html

[wli]

1. Bliar Bliar pants on fire, I don't believe a word n/t

[mrfrapp]

2. CCTV cameras (again)

"A police source said the aim was to, as near as possible, put the bodies back together to learn "the position they were stood or knelt", when they manually activated the devices which killed them and Londoners in the morning rush hour."

Why do they need to do that? The news at the time was that CCTV cameras on the Bus weren't working, implying that CCTV cameras on the train were working (that's a reasonable assumption isn't it?). So they already know if they were "stood or knelt", surely.

But the investigation received a serious setback when it was discovered the CCTV cameras on the bus that blew up were not working so detectives will not get vital images of the bomber.

8<--- snip ---

The bus had four cameras - one covering people getting on, the second at the exit doors and one on each deck scanning the length of the vehicle.

But the anti-terrorist squad are confident that other CCTV footage will help nail the three other terrorists.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid%3D15717499&method%3Dfull&siteid%3D94762&headline%3Dexclusive--58--the-hunt-name_page.html

[Henny Penny]

3. surely they can tell a lot from the holes

in the floor of the train.

[Briar]

4. A dead man's switch

"Former anti-terrorism squad bomb expert Tony Dedman said: "It could be a positive push switch, where you push it and the bomb explodes, or a dead man's switch where you push it in and it won't go off until you release it."

So if you put seven bullets in the head of a man carrying a bomb with such a switch, is he more or less likely to release it?

[GoBlue]

5. Another breakthrough...

in an ever-changing story. Stay tuned for next week's diversion.