Uneasy Britons mark London bombings

Susanna Pell, who was in the second carriage of the Edgware Road tube train when the terrorist bomb went off, lays flowers yesterday at the station to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in the terrorist bombings last year. PHOTO: AFP

One year after four young British Muslims blew themselves up on London's transport system, killing 52 people and wounding 700, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair described the threat as "grim."

"There are, as we speak, people in the United Kingdom planning further atrocities," he told BBC Radio. "Since July, the threat has palpably increased."

As Londoners went to work on Friday morning, stopping to lay flowers at the site of the July 7, 2005, attacks, the mood was one of unease mixed with resignation and defiance.

"I was there. It could have been me, so I am just lucky to be alive and remembering those who weren't that lucky," said Robert Andrews, 29, who was on one of the bombed London Underground trains.

"I am aware it could happen again but I am not worried," he told Reuters. "I have just got to get on with my life."

In what appeared to be a well-timed bid to fuel fears, a video surfaced on Thursday apparently showing one bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, reading his last statement before death.

The previously unseen video, broadcast on Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, also showed al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri, suggesting a link between Osama bin Laden's network and the bombers.

The failure of the police to charge anyone in connection with the attacks, despite an exhaustive inquiry, has added to unease.

The British government says it knows little about the motivation of the bombers, their possible training abroad or their alleged links to al-Qaeda.

A survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project released in Washington on Thursday showed 42 percent of Britons were very concerned about a rise in Islamic extremism in Britain compared to 34 percent a year ago.

Many of Britain's 1.8 million Muslims feel their community has been unfairly targeted by the police since the attacks. Two botched anti-terrorist operations in which police shot two innocent men, killing one of them, have not helped.

Survivors of the bombings say an official report into the attacks published in May did not answer all their questions. Many want a full public inquiry into the events which, like the September 11 attacks in the United States, have become etched into the British psyche as a simple date -- 7/7.