A LEAKED secret document reveals that MI5 has discovered almost nothing about the worst terrorist attack against Britain despite months of investigation.

After the biggest MI5 and police inquiry ever mounted, a secret report for Tony Blair and senior ministers into the July 7 London bombings states: “We know little about what three of the bombers did in Pakistan, when attack planning began, how and when the attackers were recruited, the extent of any external direction or assistance and the extent and role of any wider network.”

The eight-page report, by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), admits that MI5 still does not know whether the attacks of July 7 and July 21 were linked and whether Al-Qaeda chiefs were behind them.

“The last few weeks have seen few significant developments . . . and we are not that much further on in our assessment,” the report notes.

Referring to the MI5 codenames for both terror plots, the report states: “There is still no intelligence to link the Stepford (July 7) and Hat (July 21) attacks; we still do not know whether we are dealing with an orchestrated campaign or coincidental/copycat attacks.

“We do not know how, when and with whom the attack planning originated. And we still do not know what degree of external assistance either group had.

“Whilst investigations are progressing, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge.”

On the possible role of Al-Qaeda chiefs, the report says: “We still have no insight into the degree . . . of command and control of the operation.”

It also says: “How long the 7/7 attack had been planned remains unknown.” It adds: “We do not have any conclusive findings from forensic examinations of the group’s bomb-making expertise.” The report concludes that “we know little” about how suspects operated.

The disclosure will anger victims’ relatives and survivors of the July 7 attacks in which 56 people, including the four suicide bombers, died.

This weekend Rachel North, an advertising executive who was injured in the King’s Cross bomb, said: “I am disappointed that they have not come up with any real leads. Most of the survivors want to know not just what happened but why it happened. This absolutely underlines the need for a transparent, independent public inquiry.”

The Tories are also calling for an independent inquiry into what the intelligence services knew before the attacks. The leak of a JTAC report, seen by The Sunday Times, is unprecedented and some within the intelligence services are known to feel that there should be a public inquiry.

Two years ago MI5 was given an injection of cash allowing it to recruit a further 1,000 staff, on top of the 2,000 it already has. Only last month the Treasury allocated a further £125m to the fight against terrorism, most of which went, despite police complaints, to MI5. It will be spent on recruiting hundreds more intelligence officers and opening branches in eight British cities.

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