By IRNA,
London : The official inquest into the deaths of 52 people killed in the 7/7 attacks on London’s transport system started on Monday, more than five year after the atrocities.
The inquests at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which are expected to last up to five months, were delayed by criminal investigations and disputes over the extent of the remit.
It has already been decided that the inquest will be presided over by Court of Appeal judge, Lady Justice Hallett acting as coroner, but without a judge.
Separate inquests, which are currently adjourned, are also being held into four suicide bombers identified by police, Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19.
The British government has continually refused to hold a judicial inquiry into coinciding attacks on three London underground trains and a bus, which occurred while Prime Minister Tony Blair at the time was hosting a G7 summit in Edinburgh on July 7, 2005.
Apart from various conspiracies theories, one of the questions to be asked is whether security agencies, which had two of the suicide bombers on their radar screens, could have prevented the attacks.
The security services, which have been reluctant to give evidence, angered bereaved relatives last week by proposing that the coroner should be allowed to sit behind closed door to hear highly classified evidence in private.