5:19pm UK, Sunday July 24, 2005

Detectives are investigating possible links between those responsible for the botched terror attacks and the first wave of bombings that left 56 people dead.

180 rafting

Was it a bonding trip?

Earlier, it had emerged that two of the dead bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, went on a whitewater rafting trip in north Wales shortly before carrying out the deadly July 7 bombings.

Anti-terrorism officers believe several people living at addresses linked to the investigation into the failed attacks on Thursday may also have been on the trip to Bala.

It is not yet clear if those people are actually any of the four suspected bombers or their associates  - or if they have no involvement.

Photographs of the rafting trip showed Khan, who detonated a device at Edgware Road Tube, raising a two-fingered peace sign and Tanweer, the Aldgate bomber, leaning forward and appearing to laugh.

It is suggested that the Welsh journey could have been part of a bonding exercise.

Thursday's attempts were carried out on three Tube trains and a bus - as were the first attacks.

Police have recovered rucksack bombs from underground trains at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush and from a number 26 bus in Shoreditch.