Britain's security services could not have prevented the 2005 London suicide attacks despite two of the bombers being on their radar a year before, a report by senior parliamentarians said today.
Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7th bombings which killed 52 commuters in the capital's worst peacetime attack, and Shehzad Tanweer had been watched, photographed and recorded by surveillance operatives in 2004.
But the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report declined to fault the domestic spy agency MI5, saying the men had not been considered significant threats at the time.
"Having taken everything into account, and having looked at all the evidence in considerable detail, we cannot criticise the judgements made by MI5 and the police, based on the information that they had and the priorities at the time," it said.
In the immediate aftermath of the blasts on three underground trains and a bus, the authorities said the bombers had been "clean skins" who had not previously come to the attention of security services.
But it later emerged that Khan and Tanweer had been seen in 2004 meeting Omar Khyam, the leader of an al-Qaeda-inspired gang jailed for plotting to bomb nightclubs, trains and shopping centres in Britain using fertiliser-based explosives.
The ISC report showed MI5 had come across Khan on numerous occasions from 2001 and that Tanweer had also been photographed and recorded by surveillance officers.
But either they were unidentified or not considered to be "essential" targets actively involved in a bomb plot.
The ISC said it was "surprising" that Khan had not been identified before 7/7 and that had the men themselves been placed under surveillance, it was very possible the London bombings could have been stopped.
However, it noted that MI5 would have needed a strength of several hundred thousand officers, instead of the 3,500 it had, to tail all suspects who fell into the same category.
The ISC report, the second the committee has carried out into the attacks, said "astounding figures" showed that more than 60 percent of MI5's targets at the time had coverage described as either "inadequate" or "none".
The head of MI5 told the ISC that even now with greater resources they could only "hit the crocodiles nearest the boat".
"The review shows that there is no evidence to support various allegations about clues or ignored warnings," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement.
The ISC noted the security services had thwarted 12 terrorist plots since 2000 which could have resulted in loss of life "in some cases on a massive scale". It also warned that another successful attack was likely.
Relatives of victims and survivors of the July 7 bombings have long pressed for a public inquiry and argue that the ISC, with limited powers and a lack of accountability, would not enjoy public confidence.
The British government has ruled out an inquiry, saying it would sidetrack the security services when Britain is at serious risk of a terrorist attack. Britain remains at its second highest threat level, "Severe", meaning an attack is highly likely.
Reuters