London bombs 'set off by mobiles'

New York police officials have come to the conclusion that the bombs may have been set off by Mobile Phones.
Interestingly the report suggests that they were set off by alarms set on the phones rather than a phone call. Scotland Yard has refused to comment on the claims, though the NYPD did have clearance from British authorities to reveal the findings.




This is interesting information, though I would like to know how they acquired this information.
The fact they had clearance to divuge it, yet there is no comment from Scotland Yard is most puzzling.

I also find it odd that they would use mobile phones but only as a timer rather than phoning them up to detonate the bombs, it seems to be technology overkill for the task, unless I suppose as phones have vibrate features it may be easier to get a feed to power the circuit, without going into details.


[edit on 27-9-2005 by DJDOHBOY]

NYPD have just come forward and said it was a mistake to release that information.

its on the news bar on the BBC, meaning its breaking news.

Are they saying that the information was incorrect or are they saying that they weren't supposed to have leaked that info yet?

I can see why they'd use cell phones as timers. Most of these guys aren't munitions designers. They are given a general plan and make use of it. Cell phone calls can be blocked in a given area by special devices. So, worrying that they won't be able to call the cell, the scrap that idea, and need to use a timer on the device. But what to use? Why, the cell phone that would've set it off anyway. I think that that scenario makes sense.

Also, they might fear that by broadcasting cellular signal, that they are tying themselves to the bombing, and revealing more of their network, so that might also account for an individual cell choosing to not call the cell to set it off.

NYPD wasn't supposed to release anything cause the investigation is on going . Scotland Yard is very,very,very pissed off with their American counterparts for keep releasing information.

This may damage relations with the UK.

mobile phones do not work on the london underground - there is no signal at present (although not too long ago they were talking about making them usable underground... i think that can definatly be ruled out now). that is why they used timers.... so again there is the question of why suicide bombers would bother with timers and return tickets

Why does that matter??

They bought return tickets so as not to arouse suspicions. Thats one of the things that lots of clerks at these things are looking for. As far as why a timer, why not? That way they couldn't chicken out at the last moment. That way they wouldn't have to reach into the bag and press the button and draw attention to themselves. It just makes the whole thing all the more insidious.