LEEDS, England — Police in Cairo have detained a biochemist who studied in the United States and taught at a university in Leeds — the home base for at least three of the London bombers.
Investigators in Britain raided an Islamic book shop and the Egyptian’s home, searching for explosives and other evidence yesterday.
In another sign of the investigation’s widening global reach, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said authorities were trying to determine whether any of the four “foot soldiers” — suicide bombers who ranged in age from 18 to 30 — had ties with Pakistan-based cells of the al Qaeda terror network.
In an interview with BBC radio, Mr. Blair said the inquiry was focusing on the organizers of the four London suicide attacks July 7 and confirmed police were focusing on a Pakistan connection.
Three of the bombers — Shahzad Tanweer, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Hasid Hussain — were Britons of Pakistani origin. At least two had traveled to Pakistan.
Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday that authorities in that country were looking into a possible connection between Tanweer and two al Qaeda-linked militant groups, and specifically a man arrested for a 2002 attack on a church near the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, two senior intelligence officials said.
(Reuters news agency reported Pakistani authorities had arrested four persons in connection with the probe.)
The suicide bombings had political ramifications at home as well: The British government announced plans yesterday to make it a crime to provide or receive training in the use of explosives in new anti-terror legislation being considered in the wake of the attack.
Home Office Minister Hazel Blears, in a letter to opposition parties, said the proposed legislation would also outlaw “indirect incitement” of terrorism, including praising those who carry out attacks. The bill will also propose outlawing “acts preparatory to terrorism,” she said.
Police yesterday raided a shop called Iqra Learning Center in Beeston, a Leeds neighborhood. The shop appeared to sell Islamic books and DVDs and offer seminars and presentations.
The Learning Center is about four miles from Egyptian chemist Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar’s town house in Leeds, where the British press reported that police found evidence of the explosive TATP inside a bathtub.
TATP was used by shoe bomber Richard Reid, whose attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 was thwarted. Reid pleaded guilty to U.S. charges and is serving life in prison.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry announced yesterday that Egyptian authorities were interrogating Mr. el-Nashar, who studied at North Carolina State University and the University of Leeds.
In Cairo, a government official said Mr. el-Nashar, 33, was arrested in the Egyptian capital on Sunday or Monday after British officials informed Egypt of their interest in him. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was giving information not in the official ministry announcement.
But Mr. el-Nashar’s youngest brother, Mohammed, said he was arrested Thursday when he went to a local mosque to pray but didn’t return.
It was not clear why there was a discrepancy between the two accounts.
In London, Mr. Blair said British authorities would seek his extradition, if need be, although the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
A security official in Cairo said Britain was pressuring Egypt to hand Mr. el-Nashar over, but that Egypt was trying to determine whether there was enough evidence against him to do so. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was not authorized for official release.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry said Mr. el-Nashar came to Egypt from London on vacation and had intended to go back to Britain to continue his studies.
“El-Nashar denied having any relation with the latest events in London,” the ministry said. “He pointed out [to questioners] that all his belongings remained in his apartment in Britain.”
(Early today, in a statement published in Cairo by the daily Al Gumhuriya, Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adly said Mr. el-Nashar, “has no links with the al Qaeda network.” The minister’s statement was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The minister said press reports about Mr. el-Nashar “are unfounded and are only hasty deductions.”)
In Leeds, authorities searched Mr. el-Nashar’s town house in a complex of two-story brick apartments. The home was surrounded by blue-and-white police tape and covered in scaffolding draped with white plastic sheeting. Forensic teams in white coveralls carted out material.
TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, is a highly unstable explosive made from commercially available chemicals. Earlier news reports had suggested the London bombers used military-grade explosives.
Andy Oppenheimer, an explosives specialist with Jane’s Information Group, said TATP is strong enough to have caused the damage done by last week’s bombs. But he said making such a highly volatile explosive stable enough to carry out closely synchronized attacks would have required advanced knowledge of chemistry. Police say the three subway blasts occurred within a minute.
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