Muslims reflect on London bombings
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-16 07:20

An Egyptian chemistry student wanted by police in connection with last week's London bombings is understood to have been arrested in Cairo, a British police source said on Friday.

"I can confirm that a man has been arrested in Cairo," the source said, saying it was understood to be Magdy Elnashar, a student at Leeds University who officers have been looking for as part of their inquiry.

This student is a key person who was focused by British and US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials investigating an al-Qaida connection in the London terror attacks, along with an 18-year-old Briton of Pakistani descent believed to have set off the bomb aboard a red double-decker bus.

Security forces searched the Beeston area of the northern city of Leeds as police tried to crack the network thought to have given the dead suspects planning, logistical and bomb-making support.

British authorities were seeking a Pakistani Briton with possible ties to al-Qaida followers in the United States, news reports said. They said he may have organized the attacks and chosen the targets, leaving Britain the day before the July 7 bombings.

"Al-Qaida is not an organization. al-Qaida is a way of working ... but this has the hallmarks of that approach," Blair said of the attacks, which killed 54 people, including four bombers. "Al-Qaida clearly has the ability to provide training ... to provide expertise ... and I think that is what has occurred here."