nquiry to examine whether police and intelligence services could have prevented attacks on London transportation opens.
nquests into the deaths of 52 people killed in a series of bombings on London's transport network in on July 7, 2005 are set to open in the United Kingdom.
The inquiry, which begins on Monday, will examine whether the police or the MI5 domestic intelligence service could have stopped the bombers, two of whom had been monitored the previous year.
Families of victims and survivors have failed in their calls for a full public inquiry into the near-simultaneous attacks on three metro trains and a bus. But the inquests will provide the first chance to challenge official accounts, which the families have labelled as insufficient, inaccurate and misleading.
"It is disgraceful that there has never been a public, judicial examination of all the facts which is truly independent of the government, the police and the security service," Clifford Tibber, a lawyer whose firm represents families of six of the victims, said.
"These inquests represent the first opportunity for a public examination of the facts and to consider, if there were failings, what lessons have been learned."
Bombers monitored
In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, officials stated that the four men - Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain, and Germaine Lindsay - who detonated their devices on the trains and bus during rush hour, were unknown to authorities.
But in the years since the attacks, it was revealed that two of the bombers had been on the radar of the security services, but were not deemed significant threats.
THE 7/7 ATTACKS
08:50am Shehzad Tanweer kills seven and injures 171 on train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East
08:50am Mohammed Siddique Khan kills six and injures 163 on train at Edgeware Road
08:50am Germaine Lindsay kills 26 and injures 340 on train between King's Cross and Russell Square
09:47am Hasib Hussain kills 13 and injures 110 on a bus in Tavistock Square
Evidence at a number of court cases has shown that Tanweer and Khan, the organisers of the attacks, were photographed, recorded and followed by intelligence operatives several times in early 2004 in the company of plotters later jailed for planning other attacks using fertiliser-based bombs.
"I want the inquests to look at whether any mistakes were made or flawed systems were in place," said Ros Morley, whose husband Colin, died in one of the metro bombings.
"Innocent citizens in the UK and worldwide need to know that they are protected now and in the future."
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/2010101142746938333.html
