Command & Control, Transport Security

MI5 'overstretched' before 2005 bombings

By Alice Kok | 20 May 2009

Security services lacked the resources to carry out extra checks on the man who would go on to lead the 2005 suicide bombings of London’s transport system, an official report said Tuesday (19 May 2009).

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But lawmakers on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) cleared the domestic security service, MI5, and Special Branch police officers of failing to link Mohammed Sidique Khan to the plot that left 52 people dead.

Khan and three other British Muslim suicide bombers blew up three underground trains and a bus in central London on July 7, 2005.

The ISC report, which was heavily censored for security reasons, said lawmakers “cannot criticise” decisions made by investigators despite the fact Khan came to their attention several times.

It had been correct for officers not to dig further into his background despite observing him meeting extremist plotters because there was no evidence at that stage that he posed a threat to national security.

A police surveillance unit filmed Khan in 2001 as part of an operation to track suspected extremists. However, he was not identified from the images and his significance was only realised after the suicide bombings.

Committee chairman Kim Howells said MI5 could not be blamed for not stopping the attacks, and following people like Khan who had no previous convictions for extremism could have diverted resources from other key inquiries.