Legal action threat over 7/7 inquiry

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Survivors and relatives of those killed in the London bombings of July 7, 2005, said on Wednesday they would seek legal action to force the government to hold an independent inquiry into the capital's worst peacetime attacks.

The group argue that the official accounts of the suicide bombings on three underground trains and a bus by four young British Islamists have been insufficient and inaccurate.

"We believe that our country can only benefit from an independent investigation into the largest ever terrorist attack on mainland Britain," said Graham Foulkes, whose 22-year-old son David was killed on an underground train.

The bereaved relatives and those who escaped the bombings delivered a letter to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Wednesday calling for the government to re-think its refusal to hold an inquiry.

They said they would seek a judicial review should their request be denied, arguing the decision would breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Opposition politicians have echoed such calls but Smith's predecessors have previously dismissed them, saying an inquiry would distract the already-stretched security services at a time when the country is at serious risk of attack from militants.

Britain is currently at its second highest threat level, "Severe", meaning an attack is highly likely.

In June, a jeep laden with petrol canisters was rammed into Glasgow Airport, just days after two cars packed with gas canisters, petrol and nails were found in London.