Intelligence failure on London bombing blamed on limited resources

Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said on Thursday at the House of Commons that a lack of resources had prevented intelligence and security services from preventing the July 7 bombings in London in which 52 were killed and over 700 injured.

Presenting the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee report on the bombing incident, Reid said there had been no intelligence that terrorists were planning attacks on Britain, despite the fact that two of the four bombers were being tracked by security services before the attacks, Sky TV reported.

The intelligence service had been diverted to other anti-terror operations, he added.

According to the report, the security services have discounted the theory that a terror mastermind fled Britain shortly before the attacks, or that there was a fifth or even more bombers.

The report also said there was currently no evidence of direct links between the July 7 attacks and the abortive bombings on 21 July.

People who still have doubts about the links between the 7/7 bombers and other terrorist suspects in Britain and abroad, and have reservations about the intelligence services' failure in monitoring their movements are demanding a public inquiry into the bombing.

But the secretary has ruled out the possibility of such an inquiry, saying it would distract the precious resources of security and intelligence services from defending the country which was still facing serious terrorist threats.

Nonetheless, Reid reiterated that cooperation among all sectors of the government and community as well as with international partners was vital to cracking down on future terror attempts.

"(Terrorism) won't be defeated by the security services alone, or police, or government, but by all of us in this country working together...Greater coverage in Pakistan, or more resources generally in the UK, might have alerted the agencies to the intentions of the July 7 group," he said.

Source: Xinhua