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Blair blasts Muslim extremists

British leader ready to toughen stance on 'evil ideology' as police release a video image of suspected bombers

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

July 17, 2005

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a blistering attack yesterday on radical Muslims' "perversion of religious faith" and hinted at far tougher anti-terror moves as the death toll from last week's bombings rose to 55 and police released a chilling photograph of the four attackers heading to the train that carried them to their fatal mission.

Police said the picture, captured from among thousands of surveillance tapes police have been scanning since the July 7 blasts, showed the men as they strode together with backpacks carrying the bombs that ripped through three Underground trains and a London bus. For the first time, police confirmed the identities of all four suspects: Germaine Lindsay, 19; Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30; Hasid Mir Hussain, 18, and Shahzad Tanweer, 22. All died in the explosions, which police believe were masterminded by someone still at large.

Egyptian authorities continued questioning Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar, 33, an Egyptian-born chemist who lived in Leeds, England, and appeared to have known at least some of the bombers. He was arrested Friday in Cairo after explosives were found in the bathtub of his Leeds apartment, authorities said. El-Nashar has denied any knowledge of the attacks. The violence has prompted calls by some in government to crack down on Islamic extremists in Britain. New measures proposed by government officials in recent days would make it easier to deport extremists and to bar entry to those already rejected by other countries.

Blair did not mention the proposals in his speech but made clear he saw toughening of laws as crucial, along with dialogue with Muslim groups and help from Muslim leaders beyond simple condemnations of violence.

"What we are confronting here is an evil ideology," he said. "This is a battle that must be won, a battle not just about the terrorist methods but their views. Not just their barbaric acts, but their barbaric ideas. Not only what they do, but what they think and the thinking they would impose on others."

Many Muslims, and the family of at least one bomber, have said they believe the attackers were brainwashed by radical clergy, who Blair said had taken advantage of "our tolerance and good nature" to gain a foothold in Europe and to target Muslims such as those recruited for the London attacks - young men born, raised and educated in Britain.

"This is what we are up against," he said. "It cannot be beaten except by confronting it, symptoms and causes, head-on. Without compromise and without delusion."

Muslim leaders issued a joint statement condemning the attacks, but the city's assistant police commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur, said they needed to do more, such as informing on potential terrorists and their supporters.

On a leafy residential street of central London, meanwhile, one of the last signs of the violence disappeared when the wreckage of the double-decker bus believed to have been blown up by Lindsay was towed away.

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Blair blasts Muslim extremists

British leader ready to toughen stance on 'evil ideology' as police release a video image of suspected bombers

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