| Ten arrests over murder of Pc Keith Blakelock Arrest made as family and colleagues hold a memorial service to mark the 25th anniversary the killing. telegraph.co.uk |
7/7 inquest witness saw bombers 'celebrate like sports team' before attack London bombings inquiry hears of comings and goings at 'bomb factory' and painstaking search through CCTV by police The 7/7 bombers were in a "euphoric" and "celebratory" mood, hugging each other before going on their separate, final journeys to carry out the attacks that killed 52 people in London, an inquest heard today.Joseph Martoccia, a Cambridge businessman said the men looked like a sports team "in really high spirits".Families of the victims listened as Martoccia told the inquest into the bombings how he came across the men gathered in a huddle in a busy corridor at King's Cross station, close to the entrances to several tube lines.He thought there were between "four to six" men in the group. "They were incredibly animated and spirited and went in different directions, not as a team. I recall that was a little odd at the time," he said."They were hugging each other and seemed to be celebrating something". In his statement, he also said they were "euphoric, such was their happiness and excitement".When shown photographs of the four bombers, Martoccia identified Hasib Hussain and Shehzad Tanweer as two of the men he saw on the morning of 7 July 2005.The inquest heard how the four bombers meticulously planned their operation, buying supplies and carrying out a reconnaissance mission to London from Luton, ahead of the 7 July attacks. CCTV footage revealed that on 28June, three of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay, carried out a "dry run", travelling from Luton to central London.Later CCTV footage showed them buying supplies at a B&Q store in Leeds two days before the attack, in a blue Nissan micra which Tanweer – the Aldgate bomber – had hired for four days from July 4 - 8.The next day, Khan was also seen in the Nissan, taking his wife to Dewsbury hospital after complications during her pregnancy, while on the morning before the attacks, CCTV cameras at an Asda superstore picked up Khan and Tanweer buying 15 bags of ice, thought to be used to keep their explosves cool. Police were alerted to this shopping trip after finding a till receipt in Edgware Road tube station.Detective Inspector Ewan Kindness, from the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorism unit, told the inquest of the immense time pressure police were under to secure CCTV evidence. London Underground footage was kept for only seven days, the rail network for two weeks, while some private CCTV footage was kept for a matter of days, he said. There were 76 cameras at King's Cross alone.During Operation Theseus, the mission to analyse footage, more than 100 officers sifted through more than 10,000 pieces of CCTV to try and pinpoint the exact movements of the bombers. The operation lasted 18 months.It was four days after the attacks, on 11 July, that a member of the investigating team — formally in the armed forces— noticed a clip of four men walking in a two-by-two formation, carrying rucksacks and realised its potential significance.Kindness said: "He brought my attention to it and I concurred with him that it was made a priority for us."CCTV footage also identified the two cars the men had used to travel to Luton on the day of the attacks. Tanweer, Khan and Hussain drove from Leeds to Luton in the hired Nissan Micra, while Lindsay travelled in a maroon Fiat from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.One witness, Susan Clarke, alerted the parking attendant on the day of the bombing, and later police, to two suspicious cars parked at Luton train station. She was told by the coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, that there were police officers who would "rue the day you weren't taken seriously on Thursday".The court also heard from Sylvia Waugh, who lived close to the so-called "bomb factory" in Alexandra Grove, Leeds.In at times contradictory evidence she said that on the early morning of the attacks she had seen "five to six men of Asian appearance" loading rucksacks into two cars.The inquest also heard from two further witnesses, one of whom saw two men, the other who saw three men, carrying rucksacks on the train the day of the bombing. One described the men as "solemn" while the other said they were "laughing and smiling".Gareth Patterson, representing some of the families, said there was a possibility that the witnesses had seen two different groups of bombers.The inquest continues.7 July London attacksUK security and terrorismKaren McVeighAlexandra Toppingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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