Bomber's Big Mac before dying

London suicide bomber Hasib Hussain ate a last meal at McDonald's before blowing up a bus on July 7, killing 13 people.

Hussain also made a number of telephone calls, at least one of which was to one of his fellow bombers, before causing an explosion on the bus in Tavistock Square.

There were reports that he may also have spoken to the other two bombers.

Police traced three phone calls of "increasing panic" made by Hussain to his accomplices, who had just killed themselves, the Evening Standard reported.

The final minutes of the 18-year-old from Leeds are believed to have been captured by a CCTV camera as he entered the American fast food chain's outlet after coming out of King's Cross station.

Detectives are attempting to piece together Hussain's "missing hour" between the moment he split up from fellow bombers at King's Cross to when he got on the bus. His bomb exploded almost an hour after the three Tube bombs.

In particular they have been trying to ascertain whether Hussain may have met up with any "fixers" who helped carry out the multiple bombings which led to the deaths of 52 people. There appears to be no evidence that Hussain met anyone else during his visit to McDonald's and it is unclear which route he took to his target.

Investigators have ruled out the theory that he was forced to change his plan of action because part of the Underground line was closed. It has been claimed his plan to board a north-bound Northern Line train at King's Cross was thwarted after parts of the line were suspended. But the particular section was open and he could also have used alternative north-bound routes from the same station had that not been the case.

Hussain boarded the bus carrying 80 passengers, many of them evacuated from the Tube, and detonated his device at 9.47am - 57 minutes after the other blasts. All four were triggered by the bombers.

Police have looked at CCTV footage, telephone records and witness statements. They now say the bombers were not being guided by a mastermind and were not part of a larger organised group. There appears to be no evidence, as yet, that people came into Britain to help plan or execute the attacks.

Police sources said there did not appear to be any links between the July 7 and July 21 bombing teams. It appears the second set were carrying out a "copycat" attack.

- INDEPENDENT