With its towering snow-capped mountains and lush meadows, the valley in the remote northwest of Pakistan is an idyllic retreat. But behind the peaceful beauty it is also a breeding ground for terrorists.

It was here that Mohammad Sidique Khan, an assistant primary school teacher from Beeston, near Leeds, came in July 2003. Khan — or MSK as he would posthumously become known to MI5 — was not going to that valley for the scenery. He went to what MI5 says is an Al-Qaeda training camp and emerged bent on a mission of destruction.

As one security source described it: “Khan received training at the camp and returned to Britain with the expertise to detonate an explosive device.”

The visit, according to a secret intelligence assessment compiled later and seen by The Sunday Times, proved pivotal to his life and death and to 55 others killed in the London bombings two years later.

Yet last week two official reports — one from the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) and one from the Home Office — barely touched on the camp.

Instead they painted a picture of the 7/7 London bombers emerging almost from nowhere, not only to surprise Londoners but also the government and its security services. They had only ever come to the attention of the security services in a “peripheral” way, we were calmly assured.

“All four were strict about their religious observance but there was little outward sign that this has spilt over into potentially violent extremism,” says the concluding page of the Home Office narrative of events.

“Their indoctrination appears to have taken place away from areas with known links to extremism . . . it remains unclear whether others in the UK were involved in radicalising or inciting the group.”

The Blair government is well known for its spin but even the most cynical of critics had assumed it had learnt its lesson when it comes to twisting security matters in the wake of the weapons of mass destruction fiasco in the build-up to war in Iraq.

Yet last week’s reports also appear incomplete.

Not only does the government know more about the valley training camp in Pakistan than it is letting on, it is also withholding evidence about the degree to which the bombers were being monitored by MI5 ahead of their attack on London.

The evidence for this comes through classified documents and other information passed to The Sunday Times. It reveals that:

Its specific purpose was to train British-based terrorists to “to plan and cause explosions in the UK”.

Opposition MPs say the disclosures will add to growing concern that the prime minister is unable to deliver when it comes to protecting Britain.

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