London bombs: Slight Dublin Connection

Friday's Times of London reports that UK police would like to talk to an Egyptian academic who had spent time in North Carolina before living in Leeds and might have been thinking about moving to Dublin:

A BIOCHEMIST from Egypt is being sought by police who believe he may hold clues to a flat in Leeds which became the "bomb factory" where devices used by the suicide terrorists were prepared. Magdi el Nashar, 33, a science student whose nickname is "Mr M", was reported to have asked his landlord for the keys so he could provide them to a mystery friend needing accommodation.

Dr el Nashar came to Leeds in October 2000 to study biochemistry. Previously, he had studied at Cairo University and the North Carolina State University in the United States.

Dr al Nashar completed his PhD in February ... He told neighbours a job application to a Dublin university had failed.

A recent post of ours had noted news reports of al Qaeda presence in Ireland, while expressing skepticism about the sourcing of these reports. But another piece now in the jigsaw.

UPDATE: al/el Nashar is detained in Cairo. And the Sunday Independent (Ireland) says that the job application was to Trinity College, Dublin. And [20 JULY] for completeness we should note that the Egyptian government is expressing skepticism that al-Nashar was in any way involved.