Osama bin Laden was aware of the plot in which al Qaeda militants bombed London transport facilities on July 7, 2005, but it was the last successful operation he played a role in, U.S. government experts have concluded. Circumstantial evidence, including information gathered from the Abbotabad, Pakistan, hide-out where U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden on May 2, also suggests that bin Laden had advance knowledge of an unsuccessful London-based 2006 plot to simultaneously bomb U.S.-bound transatlantic flights, several U.S. national security officials said. “Bin Laden was absolutely a detail guy. We have every reason to believe that he was aware of al Qaeda’s major plots during the planning phase, including the airline plot in 2006 and the London ‘7-7’ attacks,” one of the U.S. officials told Reuters. This official and others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss counter-terrorism matters. Some of the confidence US officials expressed about bin Laden’s involvement in the London attacks is based on analytical judgment rather than ironclad proof. Two of the officials said that there was no “smoking gun” evidence proving that he orchestrated the plots.
