July 15, 2005 — One of the bombers in last
week's attacks made a direct phone call to a suspected recruiter for an
extremist group in New York.
Authorities told ABC News that records show Mohammed Sidique Khan,
the eldest of the bombers now believed to be the field commander of the
attacks, had called a person who is associated with the Islamic Center,
a mosque in Queens, N.Y. Yet, a member of that mosque claimed they had
no knowledge of the phone call.
In addition to Khan, two other men linked to the London bombings also had direct ties with the United States.
"Whilst we are watching the ports and the airports trying to prevent
people from coming in," said M.J. Gohel, a terrorism analyst at the
Asia-Pacific Foundation, "al Qaeda and its global jihadi friends are a
step ahead. They have already penetrated into the West and are
recruiting Western born Muslims to join terrorism."
Lindsay Germaine, one of the four dead bombers and a Jamaican who
left behind a pregnant wife, had recently traveled to see relatives in
Ohio.
Furthermore, Magdy El Nashar, 33, who was captured last night at his
family's home outside of Cairo and then questioned by British agents,
studied at North Carolina State University. Police believe he helped
the bombers build their explosive devices. Now they want to know if
there are more bombs and would-be bombers.
"It is possible there will be more attempts," admitted Sir Ian
Blair, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. "It is our job to stop
them in every way we possibly can. It is more likely now than it was
before."
Police said El Nashar, who denied any involvement in the bombings,
left England shortly after he rented the house in Leeds, where they
discovered a so-called bomb factory. Neighbors in the Cairo suburb told
ABC News he arrived there about 10 days before the bombings. They also
said they had trouble believing El Nashar could have participated in
the attacks.
Now the search continues for another man, whom police believe to be
the al Qaeda mastermind of the plot. Authorities said he was on a
secondary watch list and believe he crossed the channel by ferry last
month in order to elude detection. Hours after the attacks, the man
left again by ferry and is thought to be returning to Pakistan, where
al Qaeda is known to have bases.
ABC News' Chris Isham, Jill Rackmill, Madeleine Sauer, Rhonda
Schwartz, David Scott, Len Tepper, Richard Esposito and ABC News
Consultant Alexis Debat contributed to this report.