London: Britain failed to act on information passed to it by Saudi Arabia which might have helped prevent suicide bombings in London in 2005 that killed 52 people, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz said yesterday.
In an interview with the BBC before a state visit to Britain, King Abdullah accused London of failing to do enough to combat international terrorism.
"We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy."
A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said no warnings were received before the July 7 attacks on London's transport system: "We made it very clear at the time that no specific warnings were received from any source.
"We do have a very close intelligence relationship with the Saudis," he added. "We just happen to disagree on this point."
King Abdullah arrived in Britain yesterday for a state visit. His visit has prompted protests from critics of the Saudi government's human rights record and demonstrations are plan-ned outside the Saudi embassy in London this week.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband pulled out of a conference yesterday in which he had been scheduled to speak alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal.
No snub
Officials said he cancelled because he was taking leave after adopting a second child, and denied any suggestion that the move was a snub to the Saudi government. Junior Foreign Office minister Kim Howells, who spoke instead of Miliband, said the two nations were working together to tackle terrorism.
A report by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee in May 2006 said the information passed on by Saudi Arabian authorities was "materially different from what actually occurred on 7 July and clearly not relevant to these attacks."
A British security source said information provided by Saudi Arabia had not been detailed enough to be of practical use.
