Reports are still sketchy on whether the Tavistock Square bus explosion was caused by a suicide bomber. (Eyewitness reports here and here.) If the bombing was indeed caused by a Brit-based suicide bomber, it wouldn’t be a surprise. London has been a breeding ground for bomb-loving Jihadists:

December 2001: London-born Richard Reid, the so-called Shoe Bomber, was convicted of trying to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami on December 22, 2001.

May 2003: Brits Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif murdered three people and wounded scores at a Tel Aviv bar.

May 2003: Via The Command Post, 50 Suicide Bombers In UK.

May 2003: Britain’s indigenous terror.

February 2004: Omar Bakri of Britain’s radical Al-Muhajiroun exhorts Muslim children to become suicide bombers.

July 2004: Al-Muhajiroun continues to glorify suicide bombers.

July 2004: Britain allows suicide-bombing advocate Yusuf Al-Qaradawi into the country.

June 2005: 70 British Muslims join Iraq fighters (Hat tip: Kristinn Taylor)

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Zachary Abuza at TCB: Shades of 3/11

Also at TCB, Steve Emerson’s assessment:

“Increasingly it’s looking as a British intelligence official told me this morning not more than an hour ago, that he used the term, ‘Our North African boys’, meaning some of the North African type of militant Muslim groups and individuals who were responsible for the Spanish attacks in 2003 that have a very striking similarity to the attacks that were carried out this morning in London…There is an interconnected network of Algerians, of Moroccans, of Saudis operating throughout Europe and it certainly coincides with the opening of the trial of Abu Hamza al-Masri who is a radical Islamic cleric in London whose is charged with incitement has been indicted in the United States on charges of trying to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon…The simultaneous nature of the bombings and the potential there was a suicide bomber suggests very strongly that was some type of Al-Qaeda offshoot of known radical Islamic groups or unknown groups, individuals at least, plotting this for a long time. This couldn’t have been done overnight…the 3/11 attacks and these attacks clearly show that mass transit infrastructures in the West are very susceptible and almost impossible to protect by Western law enforcement and therefore the intelligence is clearly the first line of defense. The fact that they were not able to stop this type of attack clearly shows there was a failure of intelligence.” UPDATE: This afternoon, Steve was on MSNBC again, noting that we should be looking for militant jihadists, not just an “Al Qaeda” organization, which no longer exists in a corporate sense. He credited British intel as having the best intel ability in Europe, yet unable to detect these attackers – London hosts more militant members than almost any city outside the Middle East – radical Islamic clerics there preach jihad openly.

Little Green Footballs shows you the work of savages.

Mark Steyn asks:

After the initial shock of stumbling over the truth, what will Britain do? Go back to the Bob Geldof agenda or avenge her dead?

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Related:

The 7/7 attacks: Who did it?

Blair condemns bombers who “act in name of Islam”