London Police Boss Slams Muslims in Denial

The propaganda war continues. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Met Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair said police would work to defeat terrorism along with the Muslim community, which he said had been "close to denial" about extremist preachers.

Sir Ian declared the London bombers were only the "foot soldiers" of the operation and the mastermind was still being sought. "What we've got to find is, who encouraged them, who trained them, and who's the chemist," he said.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian chemistry expert sought by police over the London bombings has been arrested in Cairo, Egypt.

Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar, 33, was in Egypt on holiday and had planned to return to London. Earlier, police said they were hunting the financiers, supporters and chemists who assembled the bombs used.

Sources have told the BBC that explosives were found in one of the homes in Leeds that were made from ingredients available from high-street chemists. They were reportedly the same kind of explosive Richard Reid had in his shoes when he tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.

The BBC has also been told that a suspected al-Qaeda member entered Britain via a Channel port two weeks before the bombs, but was not kept under surveillance. The man apparently left Britain hours before the blasts.