Office for Foreign Relations and Information 

Did European secret services have any signals or intelligence indicating that something was going to happen in Europe?

They didn't have any concrete information; however the threat of terrorist attacks in Europe is permanent. As for London, London official institutions and the British government have been pointing out for at least three years that London may become a target of a larger terrorist attack.

Were there no concrete indications evident from communications, internet in recent days, nothing like that?

No.

Do you think that the London blasts correspond to the Al Qaeda style?

Yes, they certainly do. The synchronization of the attacks is very similar to the synchronization in Madrid. This is the first thing. The attack was aimed at the means of public transport. This is again very similar to Madrid events. The goal of this attack was to frighten, cause great chaos. All these tactics are used by Al Qaeda.

The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda Jihad in Europe. Is the group known?

It is a completely new organization or at least the name is completely new. As for the nature of this organization, we have not had any detail information so far. Nevertheless, we have to point out that in the case of every such an attack there appear declarations that the attack was carried out by this or that organization. It doesn't always have to be true. Verification of these declarations is very difficult.

Do you have information, the latest information, whether there are really no Czechs among the injured or dead?

We don't have such information.

Do you have information that the British Police have really thwarted some attempts at terrorist attacks in London in recent months or in several recent months?

Of course, we are in contact with our British partners. At this moment, however, they are very busy covering the situation which has arisen in London. We expect them to give us their information in the next few days. As for the prevention of the attacks in the past, there is no reason we should think that the British were not successful in the prevention of attacks.

Have they thwarted any concrete attempts?

Intelligence services cannot speak about their successes. This is their disadvantage.

Are Islamic or current terrorist groups, let say, able to prepare assassinations, simultaneous assassinations in several European cities at a time? Do they have such capacity?

It is theoretically possible, but practically it is very difficult. We have to realize that Al Qaeda is not a compact, hierarchically directed organization. It is more a conglomerate of individual groups, which is bound by personal links, ideology etc. Thus the coordination in its own sense of the word is more difficult. Nevertheless, simultaneous attacks cannot be excluded.

But it seems that they are not logistically linked between individual states, are they? Isn't the danger too great?

As I said, the logistic link is more difficult even due to the fact that there exists a great emphasis on interruption of contacts between individual cells. They then operate in the territory of individual states on their own.

Is there any information indicating that terrorists could use biological or chemical weapons in the near future?

It is most probable that they do not have these devices at this moment. They, however, do not have moral scruples to use them. So far, they have been using classic explosives. The fact that they can use more destructive devices can unfortunately never be excluded.

As for the today's explosives or devices, which explosives were used? It was said that they were conventional. What does it mean? What is it?

Explosives that are freely available in the market, both arms and usual. Things which are quite easily accessible.

So, there was nothing special, was there? Do you have such information?

Well, it's too early to answer this question.