Monday, July 11 2005 10:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Investigators are trying to see if there is any "link in forensics" between Iraqi explosives and the bombs used in London and whether they could possibly be provided by al-Qaeda top operative in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a media report said yesterday (July 10, 2005).

The Time magazine quoted an Italian intelligence source as saying that British intelligence is looking into an al-Zarqawi connection.

"Al-Zarqawi is a potential source since there's an unlimited amount of explosives and munitions in Iraq that he controls," a US official told the magazine. "So it's just a matter of getting it out of Iraq and to the right people."

Roland Jacquard, a French terrorism analyst with close links to the authorities in Paris said, his sources tell him that, early tests indicated that the explosives were "military quality and provenance," and quite unlike the industrial material, stolen from mines, that was used in the Madrid bombings, the magazine said.

The magazine also quoted a British official as saying that the investigation into the London bombings is gravitating toward the possibility that, as in Madrid, the attacks involved al-Qaeda-linked Moroccans, perhaps drawn from Britain's large Moroccan community, coupled with outside guidance and bomb-making help.

Authorities believe there may be links between the London bombers and those behind the Madrid attacks, Time said.

"There's a lot of concern that the group is still here," the official said. "It may not presage any imminent attack. Maybe the greater danger is that they go dormant for weeks if not months. It's a very considerable worry."