London terrorist plots linked

LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- Attorneys for the first time have drawn direct links between the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people and failed attacks in the city two weeks later.

Government lawyers used videos left behind by Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shelzad Tanweer to show that the July 7 suicide bombers had conspired with those plotting the July 21 attacks while training at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan, the Guardian reported Saturday.

Jurors were told of similarities between the types of explosives in both cases. Stephen Kamlish, a lawyer representing Manfo Asiedu, told the court that alleged July 21 ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim was in Pakistan at the same time as Khan and Tanweer.

He said that shortly after all three returned to Britain they made almost identical bombs containing hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance, such as flour, which had never been used before in Britain.

Ibrahim denied knowing Khan and Tanweer and said the earlier attacks had inspired him to create a "fake" copycat mission.

Ibrahim, Asiedu, Hussain Osman, Ramzi Mohammed, Yassin Omar and Adel Yahya are on trial for conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.