British and Saudi investigators are examining a series of phone calls, text messages and e-mail between leaders of the Al Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia and unknown people in Britain from February to May for possible links to the recent bomb attacks in London or a still unidentified group of extremists operating in Britain, according to a Saudi official.The official said the calls to and from Saudi Arabia were linked to cell phones of two Moroccan Al Qaeda leaders, Abdul Karim Majati (killed in April) and Younis Mohammed Ibrahim Hayari (killed on July 3 in a shootout).Meanwhile, British authorities said they are formally applying for the extradition from Italy of Isaac Hamdi, also known as Osman Hussain, one of the suspects in the July 21 attacks. In statements to interrogators in Rome, Hamdi has claimed there was no connection between the two sets of London attacks, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported, but that the July 21 would-be bombers decided to ‘‘take revenge on the English’’ for the anti-Muslim atmosphere following the earlier attacks.In Britain, The Sunday Telegraph reported that Hamdi made a phone call to Saudi Arabia shortly before his Friday arrest. The Sunday Times says that Ibrahim, the reputed ringleader of the July 21 group, visited Saudi Arabia in 2003, telling friends he went there to receive training.The Saudi official confirmed both the phone call and the visit. He also said Saudi investigators were examining the travel of one of the July 7 bombers, Hasib Hussain, who transited through Riyadh in 2004 on his way to Karachi, Pakistan. —LAT-WP
