The FBI has confirmed that two of the England terror suspects had inquired about working as medical doctors in the United States – within the past year.

LONDON, England (AP) — Two suspects in the failed car bombings in Britain had contacted a clearinghouse for foreign doctors about working in the United States, the FBI said Friday, and British officials probed links between the attacks and al-Qaeda in Iraq.

An FBI spokeswoman said Mohammed Asha and another suspect had contacted the Philadelphia-based Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, as first reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Asha, a Jordanian physician of Palestinian heritage, contacted the agency within the last year, but apparently did not take the test for foreign medical school graduates, said the spokeswoman, Nancy O'Dowd." He was applying, (but) we don't believe he took the test," she said.

O'Dowd could not immediately confirm the name of the second suspect.

The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the story and explained how the discovery was made:

After the Glasgow airport bombing attempt, FBI agents visited the Philadelphia headquarters of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. The nonprofit organization is a national clearinghouse that certifies the qualifications of foreign-trained doctors to work as medical residents in the United States.

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