BRITISH intelligence experts said that the al-Qaeda hierarchy was taking the first step towards claiming ownership of the bomb attacks in London last month, after they examined the video tape by Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The officials said nothing had yet emerged from the forensic investigation of the bombs to convince the police of a definite link to al-Qaeda.

However, the intervention of al-Zawahiri on the video gave the first hint that the terror group was the motivating force behind the attacks.

The intelligence sources said that it appeared as if al-Zawahiri was trying to stamp the London bomb attacks with the al-Qaeda label.

Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden were both “on the run” and not in a position to co-ordinate global attacks personally.

However, they had “spawned” numerous terror organisations that had sprung up around the world, most of which were operating “spontaneously and remotely”.

The statement on al-Jazeera, the sources said, appeared to be an attempt by the top echelon of al-Qaeda to wrest back control of all the splintered groups.

“Al-Zawahiri does not claim responsibility for the London bombs but what he does seem to be doing is trying to restore credibility for the al-Qaeda organisation as a whole, and to attempt to put across that he and bin Laden still have a co-ordinating global reach, even though they clearly don’t,” one intelligence source said.

MI5 and MI6 have been closely watching for any statements by any groups or individuals linked to al-Qaeda since the July 7 bombings. The initial claims by al-Qaeda Europe that it was behind the attacks were treated sceptically.

However, al-Qaeda “franchises” had made similar claims in the past with other bombings, such as the two attacks in Istanbul in November 2003. Security sources said the statement from al-Zawahiri, and the implied claim of responsibility, were not being viewed with any degree of surprise because of certain key elements in the July 7 and July 21 bombings.

The “style and timing” of the attacks had pointed to an al-Qaeda link. “Even if at the end of the investigation it turns out there was no mastermind, the hallmarks of al-Qaeda were there from the beginning,” one security source said.

British intelligence efforts abroad are also still concentrating on a Pakistan connection, in particular to the July 7 bombings, in the hunt for a possible mastermind.

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