Muslim Cleric Sought in London Bombings

(London) While rescuers hold on to threads of hope that they may still find survivors, they wearily struggle to access rat-infested Underground tunnels, threatening to collapse. Police and emergency workers continue to warn of possible additional victims as citizens desperately search for about 25 missing friends and relatives. In the meantime, there's some breaking news on the investigation of who is responsible for the terrorist acts.

Chad Evans at In The Bullpen has the scoop on a group called Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades which claims to have awoken sleeper cells for the bombings.

In the group's communique asking their European sleeper cells to wake up (get active), they reference Fes which I concluded at the time must be a reference to a Moroccan prison where it is reasonable to assume there are members of Abu Hafs Brigades in prison.

Where it gets interesting though in relation to Morocco is that the primary suspect at this point in time is Mohammed Guerbouzi who is from Morocco. Guerbouzi is believed to be the leader of a Moroccan terror cell which has been broken up in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Spain and France.

So, currently in the investigation, there are two groups claiming responsibility, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and The Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe, while law enforcers are looking for a cleric named Guerbouzi (aka Garbuzi). Thus, we have this next report.

From ABCNews Online:

Although investigators have not pinpointed any suspects sought in connection with the worst attack London has known since World War II, media reports say police have requested European counterparts seek out information on radical Moroccan cleric Mohammed al Garbuzi.

Garbuzi is leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and lived in Britain for 16 years, before vanishing from his north London home last year.

It is believed he may have travelled to France.

His group is blamed for attacks that killed 45 people in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in May 2003.

London police have refused to comment on reports they are hunting Garbuzi, but British dailies the Daily Mail and the Independent say in their Saturday editions that police have made "a Europe-wide request for information" on the 45-year-old awarded asylum in Britain a decade ago.

The Independent says Garbuzi is linked to Abu Qatada, a Palestinian cleric based in London who is considered the spiritual head of Al Qaeda in Europe.

Let's hope one of these leads pan out.

Current status of the casualty count is more than 50 dead and 22 people remain in serious or critical condition. About 100 injured were hospitalized for a second night.

Two Underground lines remain closed while most of the city's transportation network is back to normal.

[Update] GeoBandy writes that a Moroccan court convicted Garbuzi in absentia and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the Casablanca bombing in 2003. Moroccan authorities sought extradition from Britain but, for some unknown reason, the UK did not comply.

If Garbuzi is implicated in the London bombings, it will be difficult to explain away the aforementioned.