Or could the attacks — which officials have linked to al-Qaida — be a reminder of the anniversary of London's July 7, 2005, bombings?

If terrorists were trying to rattle Gordon Brown on his second day as prime minister, it would not be the first time al-Qaida has pegged an attack to politics, said Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University.

He pointed to the Madrid train attacks in 2004, which helped lead to the electoral defeat of then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Anzar's pro-U.S. government and Spain's with-drawal of troops from Iraq.

With the two-year anniversary of the July 7 attacks on London's transport system days away, some believe the car bombs were meant to remind Britons that the attacks, which killed 52, could be repeated.

But when it comes to attacks, the organization puts operational concerns first, said Michael Jacobson, a terrorism expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"Al-Qaida is much more focused on maximum damage and successful attacks than it is on dates for symbolic purposes," he said.

June's announcement that author Salman Rushdie would receive a knighthood revived 15 years of anger over the author's allegedly anti-Islamic work The Satanic Verses, and officials have said that a posting to an Islamist Web site — hours before the first car bombs were found — suggested Britain would be attacked for the award.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 7, 2007
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