London, Jan 10 (IRNA) The director-general of Britain's MI5 security service had told senior MPs there was no imminent terrorist threat to the country less than 24 hours before the July 7 London bombings in 2005, it was reported Tuesday.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller gave the assurance at a private meeting of Labour whips at the House of Commons on the morning of July 6, 2005, the Guardian said it had learned from a number of those present.

The MPs were said have been "deeply alarmed" by the following day's events after being confident on leaving the meeting, that they could brief fellow parliamentarians that the security situation was under control.

Senior members of the government, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, were out of London at the time, hosting the G8 summit of industrialized countries at Greeneagles in Scotland.

Six weeks prior to the series of bombings on London's transport system, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, a government body based at the headquarters of MI5, also reduced its threat risk to Britain from level 2 to level 3.

The revelation comes after reports last month that the MI5 chief would resign from her post in April, but security sources were said to have denied that her decision to retire was in any way connected to the briefing or to any aspect of security service's performance.

The Guardian suggested, the disclosure that MI5 had been so completely taken by surprise about the bombings, will fuel calls for a public or independent inquiry into the events leading up to the attacks that claimed 56 lives and injured hundreds.

Previous calls for a judicial investigation, led by Muslim leaders, families of the victims and opposition parties, have been repeatedly rejected by the government.

Grahame Russell, whose son Philip, 29, died in the bombing of a bus, said that unless there was a public inquiry where witnesses can be called and questioned, "we will never get the truthful answers about what happened before, during and after July 7 2005." David Davis, the shadow home secretary, also reiterated his demands for an independent rather than public inquiry, along the lines of the Franks committee, which examined the causes of the 1982 Falklands war.

"Reports like this, and the Metropolitan police commissioner saying hours before the bombings that London had a 'gold standard' of counterterrorism policing, can only reinforce the absolute need for an independent inquiry," Davis said.

"It is absolutely necessary for the continued security of the British public that we know precisely if, when and how security failures have occurred, and for action to be taken to minimise the risk of it happening again," he told the Guardian.

Muslims leaders have suggested that any inquiry should be the starting point to learn lessons and prevent any repetition of such incidents.