High-tech tracked London suspects

"That's definitely him. I'm really scared now," Ana Christina Fernandes told a British policeman Thursday as he showed her a picture. A grainy CCTV (closed circuit television) photo showed a young man in tracksuit pants and a white tank top boarding the No. 220 bus. She identified Osman Hussain as her London neighbor.

A day later, the same man, who police say tried to set off one of four bombs on July 21, was captured by Italian police in Rome. He was betrayed by his mobile phone. Mr. Hussain was using a relative's cellphone as he traveled from Britain to France and Italy. By tracing the phone, Italian police pinpointed Hussain's location. This weekend, police say, they captured all four of the 7/21 London attackers, and technology proved a crucial tool in cracking the cases.

"There are a lot of lessons for other European capitals about using CCTV for both prevention and tracking of terrorism," says Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at St. Andrews University in Scotland. "I doubt very much that the 7/21 bombers would have been caught so quickly had there not been CCTV cameras that allowed police to work with the public."

Britain's investigation into the bombings which have twice struck London in three weeks has been sped along by the use of new and evolving technologies like CCTV and mobile phones, which have allowed police to identify suspects quickly and trace their movements around the world.

The string of contacts - and arrests - continued over the weekend. Police arrested six people Sunday they say were involved in the failed July 21 London transit bombings and were reportedly investigating the attackers' ties to Saudi Arabia and Italy, hurrying to track down any accomplices to prevent more attacks.

Police sources told the Sunday Telegraph that Mr. Hussain, an Ethiopian-born British citizen, called Saudi Arabia hours before his arrest. A legal expert familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press in Rome that Hussain admitted to a role in the attacks but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike.

Hussain told Italian police that the bombers had been led by a man called "Muktar," the Rome daily La Repubblica reported.

Suspect Muktar Said Ibrahim was arrested Friday in London. The Sunday Times said the Ethiopian-born Briton went to Saudi Arabia in 2003 on a month-long visit, telling friends he went for training.

In Pakistan, police are painstakingly analyzing the mobile phone records of the two 7/7 suspects who visited the country. While officials stress that it is a tedious process, it has already yielded the name of at least one significant suspect: Masoud Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed).

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