Reconstructed: the final hours before the suicide attack

Details of the final hours of the four London suicide bombers were published yesterday in a Home Office "narrative". The report, which is based on information provided by police and the intelligence agencies, provides the fullest description so far of what happened in the hours before the attack, which claimed 56 lives, including the four terrorists, and injured 700.

On 6 July, the eve of the bombings, three of the four men, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, the leader of the bombers, Shahzad Tanweer, 22, and Hasib Hussain, 18, who all lived in West Yorkshire, did nothing to arouse suspicion.

Hussain was last seen by his family in the afternoon when he came down to the kitchen in his pyjamas, ate a bowl of cereal, and told his mother that a trip to London had been delayed until later that evening.

Tanweer played cricket at a local park until late in the evening. He left his house at about 11pm and is assumed to have meet up with Khan.

The weather on the morning of 7 July 2005 was unsettled, with heavy showers in places.

03.58 - This is the first time the trio are seen on the day of the bombings when they are filmed by a surveillance camera in a hired car, a light blue Nissan Micra, leaving Leeds. They are driving along Hyde Park Road which is close to a modern ground-floor flat at 18 Alexandra Grove in Leeds where the rucksack bombs were put together.

Each bomb was made from readily available ingredients and contained 2-5kg of homemade explosive. The Home Office says someone with previous experience of bomb-making probably helped the group, although details could have been obtained from the internet.

While making the explosives in a bath, powerful fumes from the chemicals forced the young men to work with the windows open, but the net curtains were taped to the walls to prevent them being seen. The fumes were so toxic they killed off the tops of plants outside the window.

The chemicals also started to bleach Tanweer and Hussain's hair, although they wore shower caps. The two men told their families that their hair was changing colour because of chlorine from a swimming pool they regularly used.

The flat had been rented from an Egyptian chemistry PhD student at Leeds University. He has since returned to Egypt.

04.54 - The Micra is driven south on the M1 and stops at Woodall services for petrol. Tanweer goes inside to pay for the fuel and snacks and ends up arguing with the cashier over allegedly being short-changed.

05.07 - The fourth bomber, Germaine Lindsay, 19, having driven from his home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, arrives in a red Fiat Brava at Luton station car park 90 minutes before the rest of the group. He gets out of the car and walks around, goes into the station and looks up the departure times.

Lindsay, who was born in Jamaica and later converted to Islam, had been behaving in an increasingly erratic manner in the run-up to 7 July. He had become violent and started flirting openly with women, having previously been a strict Muslim. Shortly before the bombings, his wife, with whom he had a child, threw him out of their house after she found text messages on his mobile that had been sent by a girlfriend.

He started mixing with petty criminals and bought perfume to trade it on the internet for materials useful for making bombs.

06.49 - The Micra, having been driven 160 miles south on the M1, arrives at Luton and is parked next to the Brava. The men take out large rucksacks, which contain the homemade bombs, and put them on.

They leave two nail bombs in the front of the Micra, along with explosives and equipment that could be used to make several devices. In the Brava, Lindsay leaves a 9mm handgun.

There had been speculation that the bombs were for a mystery "fifth bomber", but counter-terrorism officers have found no evidence to support this. They believe the weapons were for "self-defence or diversion" in case the police stopped them.

07.15 - The four bombers enter Luton station and go on to the platform.

07.21 - Dressed in casual clothes and appearing relaxed, they are filmed on CCTV heading for a Thameslink train to King's Cross. Tanweer has changed into dark tracksuit bottoms.

07.40 - The train leaves for King's Cross Thameslink, a couple of hundred metres east of the mainline station. The four stand out from the usual commuters because of their luggage and casual clothes, but not enough to cause suspicion.

08.23 - The train arrives slightly late due to a delay further up the line.

08.26 - The four are filmed on the concourse above the Thameslink platform and heading west towards the London Tube system.

08.30 - The four men are seen hugging. They appear happy, even euphoric. They split up. Tanweer boards an eastbound Circle Line train, Khan a westbound Circle Line train, and Lindsay a southbound Piccadilly Line train. Hussain also appears to walk towards the Underground entrance.

08.50 - Three of the bombs are detonated at the same time. The police believe that, before the attack, the group had probably detonated a bomb to make sure the explosive worked.

Tanweer is in the second carriage from the front of his eastbound train, with his rucksack on the floor. At Liverpool Street, commuters are filmed rushing to get on; some make it, others just miss boarding. Moments later, towards Aldgate station, the blast kills eight people, including Tanweer; 171 are injured.

At Edgware Road, Khan is also in the second carriage from the front. He is probably seated with the bomb near to him on the floor. Shortly before the explosion Khan is seen fiddling with the top of the rucksack. The blast kills seven, including Khan, and injures 163.

On the Piccadilly Line, Lindsay is in the first carriage with 127 others, as it travels south from King's Cross to Russell Square. The bomb kills 27 people, including Lindsay, and injures more than 340.

Hussain's bomb apparently fails to detonate when the automatic timer does not go off. He may be on a train on the Northern Line, which also runs through King's Cross, but it is not, in fact, clear which train he is on.

08.55 - Hussain walks out of King's Cross Underground on to Euston Road where he tries to telephone the three other bombers on his mobile phone. He appears relaxed and unhurried.

09.00 - Hussain enters King's Cross mainline station and goes to the W H Smith shop on the concourse. He appears to buy a nine-volt battery which may be used to detonate his bomb.

09.06 - The bomber walks into a McDonald's restaurant on Euston Road, leaving about 10 minutes later. It is not clear what, if anything, he has to eat or drink. He is thought to try to re-enter the Tube but, because the system is now reacting to the other three bombs, he cannot get back in.

09.19 - He is seen on Gray's Inn Road and gets on a No 91 bus heading west towards Euston. He looks nervous and pushes past people. He switches to a No 30 bus heading east from Marble Arch. He sits on the upper deck.

09.47 - The bomb is detonated at Tavistock Place, killing 14 people.

Unanswered questions

* A detainee held abroad had given information about two British Muslims attempting to contact al-Qa'ida in Pakistan. He knew Khan by face. A photograph of Khan was shown to foreign intelligence agencies but not to this particular detainee. Why not?

* Khan was taped by the security service talking about his desire to fight a jihad, and discussing saying goodbye to his family. Why was this not seen as enough of a reason to treat him as a serious suspect?

* Why was there such lack of information from Pakistan where Khan and Tanweer had frequently visited to meet extremists? MI6 has a sizeable station in Islamabad and the Pakistani authorities are said to be partners in the "war on terror".

* The video of Khan talking about the attacks, which appeared two months after the bombings, was obtained by al-Qa'ida. How did they get it?

* Why did the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) and the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) get it so wrong on the danger posed by home-grown Muslim groups? Why did they believe that suicide bombings are unlikely to happen in Europe?

* Why was information on Shahzad Tanweer, picked up by a foreign intelligence agency a month before the attacks, not acted upon?

* How did such widespread dissemination of extremist Islamism take place in a Yorkshire town without the authorities knowing about it?

Kim Sengupta

Victims' voices

George Psaradakis

Bus driver, 49, of the No 30 double-decker that was blown up in Tavistock Square

"My humble opinion is if a person is prepared to kill themselves and harm others, I don't think anyone can prevent it. There's not a minute I don't think about it, because living in London it is full of buses, and I drive buses every day and I drive the 30 route and it passes Tavistock Square. Of course I remember everything, I feel very emotional about it. It will take a long time to forget. But I try to move forward."

Michael Henning

A 39-year-old broker, from Kensington, west London, who survived the Aldgate bomb

"I think the lack of resources case is a scandal. I accept that the anti-terrorist police and MI5 are the experts but you've still got the rest of the police who are capable of monitoring these people. I think the Government needs to be honest. I think we need an independent, probably public, inquiry. I was standing 8ft from Tanweer when he detonated his bomb and it still feels very real. I'm a lucky one, I walked away."

Nader Mozakka

Husband of Behnaz, 47, who was killed in the Russell Square explosion

"I've been asking for a public inquiry for months. The Government seems to be judge and jury in this. Most families, as far as I'm aware, have been calling for a public inquiry. The Government is running scared of doing anything that might go down badly with the Muslim community. At the same time, people are being radicalised. Let somebody have a look at security, policy and what happened on July 7."

Diana Gorodi

Sister of Michelle Otto, 46, who was killed in the Russell Square

"If we can afford a war in Iraq surely we can afford to get protected in England. After all it is the taxpayers that are paying for all that. It's impossible for me to believe that those four acted on their own and had no links with any terrorist organisation picked up by the intelligence. There's not sufficient awareness; there's no fear about another attack; people think it was a one-off."