With no leads, British consult allies

The two-hour session also indicated that British officials running the complex inquiry were frustrated because they had few breaks, few leads and no suspects in the 48 hours after the attack, the most important investigative period after a terrorist bombing.

The participants said it was a kind of counter-terrorism investigators’ summit meeting that is almost never seen in Europe, especially just 48 hours after a terrorist attack in one country. They spoke on condition that they not be identified by name or country because of the delicacy of the investigation.

Spanish and British officials were planning to convene another meeting on Monday to share intelligence and tactical information. ‘‘There’s nothing concrete, but we’re sharing hypotheses and procedures we learned from March 11,’’ said one participant in the meeting on Saturday. ‘

Britain and its allies are working from the hypothesis that the explosives were detonated with electrical timers, investigators said. The bombs were probably not detonated with telephone calls because the depth of the Underground makes cellphone reception almost impossible. Two participants in the meeting on Saturday said the bombers might have been North African Arabs, particularly Moroccans. —NYT

Hoax donations E-mail

SYDNEY: The Australian Red Cross warned on Monday that a hoax e-mail was in circulation asking recipients to donate money to an appeal for victims of the london bombings. “Australian Red Cross would like to inform the public that no e-mails have been sent by British Red Cross soliciting donations for the victims of the London transport bombings,” the organisation said in a statement. PTI