LONDON, July 10: The London bombings are almost certainly the work of a home-grown terror cell, the British press said on Sunday as investigations deepened into blasts which killed at least 50 people.

The tabloid News of the World led a 24-page spread devoted to the blasts with a column by Lord Stevens, Britain’s most senior police official until his retirement earlier this year. “Young clever... and British,” said the headline to the section, in which Lord Stevens said the terrorists were in his view almost certainly home-grown.

“The terrorists at the centre of the London bombing this week will almost certainly be British-born and bred, brought up here and totally aware of British life and values,” said Lord Stevens. He added suggestions the bombers were North Africans were ‘dangerous wishful thinking, a damaging illusion.

“I’m afraid there’s a sufficient number of people in this country willing to be Islamic terrorists that they don’t need to be drafted in from abroad,” concluded Lord Stevens.

“I got some stick for being so outspoken. But today, after 7/7, I’ve absolutely no reason to change my mind,” he said, adding that the Muslim community had provided some tipoffs to enable previous plots in Britain to be foiled as they recoiled from the ‘monsters in their midst’.

The Sunday Times agreed with Lord Stevens general assessment.

“Leaked Number Ten dossier reveals Al Qaeda’s British recruits,” was the paper’s headline.

The Whitehall dossier showed that ‘extremist recruiters’ are seeking out young middle-class and well-educated professionals already living in Britain who possess ‘technical and professional qualifications’, it said.—AFP