Bomb investigators, rescuers struggle to find bodies, clues

Former police official believes bombers were British-born extremists.

LONDON -- Seventy feet below the traffic-clogged London streets, with temperatures reaching 140 degrees in the rat-infested Underground tunnel, white-suited rescue workers pulled 21 more bodies from the bombed-out wreckage of a subway car Sunday.

Investigators battling the same extreme conditions pressed their search of the rubble from Thursday's attacks on the London transport system, scrutinizing shredded debris for clues that could lead to the attackers.

London's former police chief said the bombers "almost certainly" were homegrown Islamic extremists, but investigators declined to endorse that theory, saying their search was not focused on any ethnic or religious group.

John Stevens, the former police chief, said militant Islamic groups were actively recruiting and training as many as 200 other British-born extremists to continue the attacks.

London's Metropolitan Police refused comment on the reports in The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday.

Three men arrested at Heathrow airport on Sunday under anti-terrorist laws were released later in the day without charge, police said. Police had cautioned against linking the detentions of the men -- all Britons -- to the Thursday explosions.

The 21 bodies pulled from the tube between Russell Square and King's Cross stations were among a total of 49 people known to have been killed in the attacks that hit two other Underground trains and a double-decker bus. Andy Trotter, assistant chief constable of British Transport Police, warned the death toll still could rise and did not foreclose that more bodies were buried in the wreckage.

The Rev. Nicholas Wheeler, of the Parish of Old St. Pancras, said the physical and psychological toll on rescue workers had been enormous.

"Obviously some are young people who have never seen horrors like this before and they were emerging shell-shocked," said Wheeler, who had been standing by at the King's Cross station since the explosions. "But they're throwing themselves into it ... trying to establish who's dead or alive."

Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner of Metropolitan Police, sought to enlist the proliferation of technology in the drive to find the bombers, asking the public to use e-mail to send in videos, photos and cell phone images taken near the blast sites around the time of the explosions.

Also Sunday, Britain's top religious leaders met to urge sectarian tolerance -- "to proclaim our wish to resist any form of violence and to work for reconciliation and peace," according to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.

The spiritual leaders sought to head off additional reprisals against Muslims after claims of responsibility by two radical Islamic groups apparently spawned minor arson attacks on mosques in Leeds, Belvedere, Telford and Birkenhead.

There also have were reports of verbal abuse and vandalism against Muslims, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers.

"We encourage everyone to report this type of obnoxious and dangerous behavior," said Chris Fox, association president.

London continued Sunday with long-planned festivities marking the passage of 60 years since the end of World War II.

Thousands of Britons waved the Union Jacks and bands marched under the gaze of the royal family, gathered on a balcony at Buckingham Palace. In the sky above, a Royal Air Force Lancaster bomber -- older than many in the crowd -- dropped millions of red poppies on the crowd.

Queen Elizabeth II, congratulated her subjects on their response to Thursday attacks, the deadliest since the German blitz.

"It does not surprise me that during the present difficult days for London, people took to the example set by those of resilience, humor and sustained courage, often under conditions of great deprivation," she said.

At St. Pancras Parish Church, just steps from where one of the bombs cut apart a double-decker bus and killed 13 people, the Rev. Paul Hawkins spoke of the diversity of culture and faith in London.

"This will only make us more determined to live in peace and respect each other and we can all play our part in that," he said.

Hundreds of people came to a Garden of Peace hastily created at King's Cross Station, bearing flowers and cards, many intending simply to show solidarity.

"We are all Londoners, we are all united, even in grief," said Adebowale Badejo, 33, who brought his family to the garden.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the United States would keep its terror alert on high for mass transit, while the U.S. monitors the British investigation for information about who was responsible and "what kinds of tactics we have to worry about."

Code orange indicates a high risk of attack, and in the U.S. system is the second-highest terror alert behind red. The lowest level is green, followed by blue and then yellow. Chertoff is considering changing the system because of complaints that it is too vague and confuses the public.

"I'd love to say we're going to see green in our lifetime," Chertoff told NBC's "Meet the Press." "It's kind of an aspirational state, but I can't tell you in the foreseeable future we're going to be below yellow."