London faces lockdown in bid to thwart third wave of terror attacks- but when will Finsbury Park mosque finally be closed ?

Story in full DEVELOPMENTS in the hunt for those responsible for planning a second series of bomb attacks in London on 21 July have been rapid.

However, there have been conflicting reports of how the group may or may not have been linked to the 7 July bombers and whether or not they planned the attacks alone - or with the support of a so-called "mastermind".

Here, we answer some of the most frequently-asked questions about the bombings and the police investigation.

Q Was there a link between the bombings of 7 July and those of 21 July?

A Police are still investigating links, but believe that the "striking similarities" between the two attacks - on three underground lines and a bus, on the same day two weeks apart - suggest that there was.

What is unclear is the level of co-ordination between the two. One theory is that neither cell knew of the other but both were run by the same "mastermind".

Official sources say that the explosives used in both attacks were variants of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), but, on the other hand, the mixture is widely used by militants.

Bob Ayers, a security expert at Chatham House, said: "There will be commonality between the two groups. As far as total commonality goes, I'm not sure. Those who spotted and recruited these guys came from different places (Leeds and London), but the explosives are likely to have been prepared by a single individual and it could be that a single individual told them to do it. We shouldn't assume that one man was behind both groups, there will have been a team of people, each performing different functions. The money man, for instance, may not even have come into the UK."

Q Were the 21 July bombers working alone or was there a "mastermind" organising them?

A Osman Hussain, the suspect currently held in Italy has reportedly spoken of his group acting alone in retaliation for Muslims being persecuted after the 7 July attacks in an "attention-grabbing" strike.

Experts yesterday dismissed this claim as "ridiculous". It is believed that the bombers were merely footsoldiers and that the real masterminds are still being sought.

Police have said they are continuing to investigate who could have been behind the bombers, in terms of financing them, making the devices and co-ordinating them.

David Capitanchik, a security expert from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, said: "People don't wake up one morning and decide they want to be a suicide bomber. We know this from past experience and to suggest that they do is ridiculous. They are recruited, organised and trained. And co-ordinated operations like those that have hit London cannot happen overnight, They take weeks or months to plan."

He said the 21 July bombers may be telling the truth when they say they don't know the 7 July bombers, but "these four did not act in isolation. It is one thing to say they didn't know about the other cell but that is different from saying the same person is not behind the same cells."

Haroon Rashid Aswat, who grew up in West Yorkshire, was detained last week in Zambia for his alleged role in the London suicide bombings - as well as setting up a terror camp in the United States. Scotland Yard have played down any suggestions that he is the bombing "mastermind".

Q How many people have now been arrested in connection with the 21 July attacks?

A A further seven suspects (six men and one woman) were taken into custody, during raids in Brighton, East Sussex, yesterday. This brings the running total of those being held to at least 19, among them all the men named as suspected would-be suicide bombers, including one tracked to Rome.

Two other suspects arrested in Rome are related to the bombing suspect. Police stressed again yesterday that they are looking for more people in connection with the attacks.

The four suspected bombers are: Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali, arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday last week; Muktar Said-Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, held by armed police after a raid on a flat in west London on Friday; and Osman Hussain, arrested in Rome on Friday.

Q Were the July 21 bombers inspired by the war in Iraq?

A Reports in Italian newspapers claim that Osman Hussain said that he and the other three carried out the attacks after watching films of Iraqi civilians being killed by US and UK troops.

But, in another report, he said that he had done it to create fear and alarm, in retaliation for the backlash against Muslims after 7 July. The true motivation behind the attacks remains unknown. One Scotland Yard spokesman said of Osman's comments: "He's going to say anything, isn't he? Who knows what's going on in their heads."

Q What are the implications for Tony Blair if there is a link to Iraq?

A The Prime Minister has sought to play down any link suggesting that the bombers were inspired to attack London because of his support for the war in Iraq. If Osman Hussain's comments continue to stress a more political (rather than religious) motivation, this could cause severe problems in the future for Mr Blair.

Q How many terror cells/would-be bombers are at large in the United Kingdom?

A Scotland Yard have played down speculation that there is a third cell, which they are actively hunting, but both Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner and Peter Clarke, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and head of the anti-terrorist branch, have warned that the 7 July bombers and would-be bombers of 21 July would not have been acting alone. Sir Ian has also warned that there may be more terror cells.

Mr Clarke said that despite capturing the four suspected bombers and a fifth man linked to the cell, "the threat remains and is very real".

Terrorism and Jihad experts also have said it is likely there is more than one cell.

One report yesterday quoted security sources as saying that there are up to 300 would-be suicide bombers at large in the UK.

Q Did the July 21 bombers set out to kill - or not, as reports have suggested Osman has claimed?

A Osman was reported to have told interrogators that he was not carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby" and that the failed 21 July attacks were carried out as a "demonstration" aimed at causing panic and alarm. Police and weapons experts have strongly dismissed any such claims.

Sir Ian has insisted the intention of those who tried to set off the devices "must have been to kill" and a spokeswoman for Scotland Yard reiterated that assertion yesterday.

Had the explosions gone off, he said, then the carnage would have been at least as bad as the attacks two weeks earlier which killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.

Q What is the link, if any, between the bombers and Saudi Arabia?

A Scotland Yard has refused to comment on reports that telephone records of a mobile phone used by Osman showed a link to Saudi Arabia, but said that they were "liaising with our counterparts around the world" in an investigation which relied on intelligence worldwide. Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre of the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University, said that a foreign connection was likely.

"With every single terrorist event we've had ... there usually are foreign connections, even though the cannon fodder may be home grown," he said. "The Bouyeris network in the killing of [film-maker Theo] van Gogh in the Netherlands, the Madrid bombings - all of these investigations have a foreign component to them, which makes them extremely complex."

Q What happens next?

A Scotland Yard is continuing to question 19 suspects in connection with the London attacks, including three of the four suspected 21 July bombers. Osman, the fourth suspect is being held by Italian police. UK police are keen to extradite him as soon as possible, but Osman and his legal team are fighting the extradition.

Mr Ayers said that police will be working laterally to investigate the pyramid structure of the terror cell - or cells.

"They will be asking 'Who do you know, who do they know' to see if there are more cells operating. Did they hear of anybody else talking about terrorism, at Finsbury Park mosque, for instance? At the same time, they will be working up the structure. Who paid them, who supplied the money?"

He said investigators would have to work quickly. "Once these guys are arrested, those in charge will act. If they had mobile phones, they'll be chucked away, if they were operating under one name, they'll change it, houses will be evacuated. The higher up the organisation you are, the better you are."