Iraqi sought in London bomb plot

Scotman:

POLICE were last night hunting an Iraqi, suspected of plotting car-bomb attacks in Britain, who went on the run just days before two vehicles packed with petrol, gas and nails were found in central London.

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Police say they are looking for an Iraqi who went on the run from a control order only 11 days before yesterday's failed bombing attempts. The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is part of a six-strong cell linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

He went missing on 18 June in north-west England, and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Scotsman understands that MI5 and counter-terrorism police consider him a suspect in the failed attacks. However, security sources insisted he was "one of many possibilities".

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Investigators were last night examining forensic evidence from both vehicles, and considering the echoes of earlier terrorist plots linked to al-Qaeda.

In April, five men were jailed for life for plotting to explode fertiliser bombs at targets including a London nightclub. Last November, Dhiren Barot, an al-Qaeda "general", was jailed for plots including attacks using cars loaded with gas cylinders.

Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism chief, said some facts of yesterday's plot "resonate" with earlier conspiracies. But he insisted there was "no intelligence that we were going to be attacked in this way".

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The suspect sounds like the one described in this recent post. The original source was the UK's Daily Mail.

A suspected Al Qaeda recruiting sergeant is on the loose in Britain after becoming the seventh control order suspect to abscond.

The Iraqi asylum seeker, a follower of dead Al Qaeda warlord Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vanished from his home on Monday.

His disappearance leaves the policy of using control orders to monitor terror suspects in tatters. A minister admitted that the orders cannot prevent "determined" suspects escaping.

The missing man is alleged to have been part of a six-man recruitment team sent to Britain by Al Qaeda in Iraq to enlist volunteers to join attacks on British and U.S. troops serving there.

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It is not clear what the law is that prohibits the Brits from naming him or posting his picture, but it is a law that is significant benefit to the terrorist it appears. It is another example of the flaws in the lawfare model of fighting a war against terrorist.