Commons begins thorough probe into 7/7 bombings

London: The most far-ranging parliamentary inquiry into the July 7, 2005 bombings and other terrorist incidents in Britain was launched by MPs on Monday.

MI5 and MI6 chiefs, as well as terrorism experts, will be asked to give evidence to the House of Commons home affairs committee.

As a monument to the victims was officially unveiled by Prince Charles in Hyde Park on the fourth anniversary of the London bombings, MPs said the Tube (London's underground railway system) remains "extremely vulnerable" to attack and warned against complacency.

The inquiry will re-examine what security services knew before 7/7, what should have been done and the government's response including the Cobra, a coordination facility of the UK government that is activated in cases of emergency or crisis.

MPs will assess any "common threads" between 7 July, the failed bombings on 21 July and other terrorist incidents. These include the Crevice case, which saw five men jailed for life for an Al Qaida-linked bomb plot whose targets included a nightclub and shopping centre. Some of the Crevice plotters met two of the 7 July suicide bombers. The inquiry will re-open questions over the report by the intelligence and security committee, which cleared MI5 and the police of blame for 7/7, despite new evidence revealing their knowledge of some of the bombers.

The ISC said it was "understandable and reasonable" that the terrorists had not been detected before the attacks, in which 52 people were murdered by four suicide bombers.

But survivors and victims' relatives dismissed it as "a complete whitewash".

Members of the security and intelligence services may be more guarded with MPs on the home affairs committee. So while the enquiry will be more wide-ranging, it may have more difficulty obtaining information.

Another focus of the inquiry will be the Cobra committee after Andy Hayman, the former head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism operations, recently described it as "a nonsensical system". Hayman was at Cobra meetings during the London bombings.

The former counter-terrorism chief criticised Cobra as too bureaucratic, overly political and cumbersome.