Jury fails to reach verdicts in U.K. bombing trial

updated 11:34 a.m. ET Aug. 1, 2008

LONDON - A jury announced Friday that it failed to reach verdicts in the case of three men accused of helping to plan the London subway and bus bombings in 2005 — the worst attack on Britain's capital since World War II.

British prosecutors said they couldn't immediately confirm whether or not they will seek a retrial in the case.

The three men, who acknowledged at their trial that they knew the four London suicide bombers, are the only people so far charged over the attacks on the capital's transit network that killed 52 commuters on three subway trains and a bus.

Following 15 days of deliberations, a jury at a London court said it could not agree on verdicts and was discharged.

Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil all denied a charge of conspiring with the bombers to cause explosions.

Alleged test run
In evidence at the trial, prosecutors alleged the men had taken part in a test run in December 2004 for the attacks, claiming they had joined three of the eventual bombers to scout out targets including subway stations and a host of tourist sites.

Slide show   London attacked July 6, 2005: Near simultaneous explosions rock the London subway and tear open a bus.

Neil Flewitt, prosecuting, claimed the men had cased out possible targets in London, including the Natural History Museum, the iconic London Eye ferris wheel and the London Aquarium.

He said that Ali, 25, Saleem, 28, and Shakil, 32, visited a series of locations which bore a striking similarity to where the bombs were detonated on July 7, 2005.

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