New London Threat; Security Hiked

As thousands of police officers patrolled London's streets and sprawling subway system Thursday, a deputy Al Qaeda leader threatened more destruction in London, saying in a videotape broadcast Thursday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame.

"Blair has brought to you destruction in central London, and he will bring more of that, God willing," Ayman al-Zawahri said in the tape, which was broadcast on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Wagging his finger at the audience, al-Zawahri also threatened the United States with tens of thousands of military dead if it does not withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.

The massive security operation Thursday involving 6,000 officers was said to be intended to reassure the public four weeks after the July 7 bombings that killed 56 people and two weeks after the failed July 21 attacks.

Officials stressed there was no specific intelligence of a third attack, but undercover police were mingling with passengers, and officers were armed with machine guns and pistols. Police helicopters hovered above while traffic was heavier than normal.

Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor who merged his militant faction with that of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, spoke with a Kalashnikov rifle propped up against a plain background. He wore a white robe with a black turban.

Turning to the United States, he warned that it could expect vastly greater casualties from its military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"As for you, the Americans, what you have seen in New York and Washington, what losses that you see in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the media blackout, is merely the losses of the initial clashes," he said. "If you go on with the same policy of aggression against Muslims, you will see, with God's will, what will make you forget the horrible things in Vietnam and Afghanistan."

Referring to U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, al-Zawahri told Americans: "The truth that has been kept from you by Bush, Rice and Rumsfeld is that there is no way out of Iraq without immediate withdrawal, and any delay on this means only more dead, more losses. If you don't leave today, certainly you will leave tomorrow, and after tens of thousands of dead, and double that figure in disabled and wounded."

Referring to the Western nations who have contributed troops to the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq, al-Zawahri said: "As to the nations of the crusader alliance, we have offered you a truce if you leave the land of Islam.

"Hasn't Sheik Osama bin Laden told you that you will not dream of security before there is security in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Muhammed," al-Zawahri, added referring to the leader of the al Qaeda network, bin Laden.

Also Thursday, a British court ordered the first person to be charged in connection with the failed July 21 bomb attacks in Britain to remain in custody.

Ismael Abdurahman, 23, from southeast London, spoke only to confirm his name and age during a 10-minute hearing in Bow Street Magistrate's Court before being led to jail.

He faces charges of withholding information that helped suspected subway bomber Hamdi Issac initially avoid capture. Issac was later detained in Rome and is being held on international terrorism charges. Italian court officials on Thursday said an extradition hearing would be held Aug. 17.

Abdurahman's attorney, Anne Faul, said her client was innocent. "The defendant will be and is vigorously contesting the charges," she said. "He has no involvement in terrorist activity whatsoever."

"It's a little bit eerie," said Rosalyn Cooper, 23, before she got on the Tube. "You can't help thinking about when it will happen again."

On the Northern line, authorities told commuters to watch out for suspicious activity.

The New York City police said the July 7 suicide bombers cooked up their explosives with items like hydrogen peroxide, suggesting that the ingredients could have been bought at a hardware or beauty supply store.

Details from the July 7 London bombings emerged Wednesday at an unusually wide-ranging briefing given by the New York Police Department to city business leaders.

Meanwhile, London transport authorities on Thursday opened the Piccadilly Line, the subway line that was worst-hit in the July 7 attacks, easing disruption on the network that carries some 3 million passengers a day.

"The return of the Piccadilly line is a major step as the Underground and London get back to normal," London Underground Managing Director Tim O'Toole said.

Transport for London, the public body that runs the Underground, said passenger numbers had dipped by 30 percent on weekends and by between 5 percent and 15 percent on weekdays since July 7.

Meanwhile, some $14.2 million has been raised through charitable donations to help victims of the July 7 attacks. The London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund said bereaved relatives would receive payments of $8,900, while people who were injured and spent a night in hospital will receive $5,300.

The Piccadilly Line is one of the busiest sections of London's subway system. It had been partly suspended since a bomb exploded on a train in the July 7 attacks, killing 21 commuters — a closure that caused significant disruption on the network.