London Muslim cleric predicted more terror attacks

22 July 2005, 18:00 PM

AFP, Washington

Commuters get out of their train in the Charing Cross tube station in London yesterday a day after a series explosion on the London transport system. Separate explosions across London have taken place at Warren Street tube station, Oval tube station, Sepherds Bush tube station and Hackney road. The explosions come in the wake of the London terror attacks on London's transport systems on the 17th July 2005. PHOTO: AFP

Just hours before the latest attacks on London's transport system, one of Britain's most radical Muslim clerics predicted more violence against the country, The New York Times reported yesterday.

"Unless British foreign policy is changed and they withdraw forces from Iraq, I'm afraid there's going to be a lot of attacks, just the way it happened in Madrid and the way it happened in London," Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed told the paper in a telephone interview from London late Wednesday.

Three near-simultaneous blasts took place on London Underground trains at lunchtime the next day, with a fourth going off on a bus around an hour later. The bombings caused no injuries but police said they were similar to those seen on July 7, when at least 56 people died and more than 700 were hurt.