Century of Jihad Read Free Page A

investigation and organise his teams.
    One of those he spoke to was Sergeant Dave Price, the Transport Police officer who had been a passenger on the train. Sergeant Price recalled his experience on the crowded underground train immediately before the explosion and his participation in events after the attack.
    ‘The train was crowded as always at that time of the morning. Nothing unusual as far as I could see. However, the seat of the explosion was at the other end of the carriage from where I was standing and we were all packed in like sardines in a can. It was difficult to see anything much except faces and outstretched arms hanging on as the train started to move.’
    On his way out of the underground station, DAC Braithwaite noticed the tiling on the walls of the station. It was reminiscent of an earlier time – the Victorian era or some such period. ‘Late nineteenth; early twentieth century,’ he mused. A time of terrorist activity by anarchist refugees from Eastern Europe. ‘Only the names seem to change,’ he thought.
    After his visit to the scene of the outrage, DAC Braithwaite returned to Scotland Yard to give a briefing to the Commissioner and other senior Metropolitan Police officers and civilian staff at a meeting of the Management Board, the Met’s most senior decision- making body. He also prepared to begin liaising with other law enforcement agencies. This included the Regional Counter Terrorism Units and security and intelligence agencies, as it was likely that the investigation would not only be national, but international. The Met would also be requesting manpower and resources from other police forces to assist them in their investigations, with enhanced security measures and to help them maintain effective routine policing in the capital in the aftermath of the incident.

    As the liaising began, the forensic teams and explosives experts at Regent’s Park scoured the train wreck at the start of their detailed search for much needed evidence. Police photographers photographed the scene from every angle, not only to aid the investigation, but also for use as evidence at any subsequent trial. Material evidence and human remains were examined at the scene prior to removal for further analysis in the forensic science laboratory and mortuary. The evidence gathered would allow investigators to identify parts of the remains of the bomber and the constituents of the bomb – several kilos of home-made high explosives, created from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and pepper, detonated by a 9 volt battery.
    This painstaking work was carried out in appalling and hazardous conditions in temperatures reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
    Police detectives embarked on the daunting task of putting together the moments leading up to the explosion and interviewing witnesses. In the following days and weeks many hours would be spent minutely examining hours of CCTV footage in an effort to identify the bomber and any accomplices. Pathologists would conduct autopsies as the dead still had the story of their final moments to tell.
    And then there was perhaps the most daunting task of all, contacting friends and relatives of the deceased and injured and dealing with the phone calls from concerned members of the public. All this was made much more complicated by the cosmopolitan nature of the great metropolis that is London.

C HAPTER 3
    ‘Shit!’ murmured Detective Sergeant Ed Malone as he put his phone down.
    ‘So the bastards have slipped through the net again.’
    Ed looked over his desk to his young subordinate, Detective Constable Stuart McDonald.
    ‘Stuart, grab your coat. We’re on. There’s been an explosion on the tube at Regent’s Park.’
    The two SO15 officers walked in silence to the bank of lifts located just outside their open plan office. They descended to the vast underground car park. As they walked briskly to Ed’s old car, the chill of the air in the concrete labyrinth made them shiver, the