MANCHESTER police issued detailed descriptions yesterday of three men wanted in connection with the weekend bombing of the city centre, which injured more than 200 people and caused an estimated £100 million worth of damage.
The Greater Manchester Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Colin Phillips, also issued an E-fit computer likeness of one of the men, who gave a taxi driver £2,000 to buy the lorry used in the bombing.
Mr Phillips also revealed that witnesses had seen the two other men leaving the vehicle outside the shopping centre two hours before the 11/2 tonne bomb exploded.
After describing this evidence as a "significant breakthrough," Mr Phillips pledged that his team would arrest these men. "We are determined to track them down. It is going to be a very difficult and long inquiry and we are determined to amass as much information as we can."
Mr Phillips said the taxi driver had been approached on Friday by a "baby faced" Irishman at the taxi rank outside the Tesco supermarket in Peterborough and offered money if he delivered the package containing the cash to a local car dealer.
The Irishman gave him the package outside a nearby pub. After issuing the computer printout of the man, Mr Phillips described him as slightly overweight, aged 35-40 and 5ft 8in tall.
Police appealed to a woman who was the second customer in the queue for a taxi to contact them, as they believe she will be able to add to this description.
The two men seen leaving the vehicle on Saturday morning both wore sunglasses, but police believe they would have been conspicuous because they were wearing hooded jackets on a "very hot day.
Det Supt Bernard Rees said there was also a possibility that one of the men had spoken to a witness just minutes after they had parked the lorry.
"I can't confirm that anyone spoke to them, but there is a suggestion that while the truck was in St Mary's Gate there was a conversation with somebody. We are desperately trying to sort that out..."
Mr Phillips is confident that the two men have been filmed by the shopping centre's security cameras. He stressed that he was unable to release any pictures of the men yet for legal reasons.
He described the first man as slim, aged 20-30 and between 5ft 8in and 5ft 10in tall. The second man had "a long nose", aged 30-40, of medium build and about 6ft tall.
Police have also circulated these descriptions to all sea ports and airports. However, officers refused to comment whether any known IRA suspects fitted these three descriptions.
Officers have questioned farmers and fertiliser suppliers in east Anglia and in the northwest in an attempt to trace where the materials used in the bomb were purchased.