Two vehicles found in London packed with explosives, car explodes at Glasgow airport

[liberte]

Car bombs have almost as long a history as the car. What has changed since the invasion of Iraq is that bombers targeting civilian targets in the West now have a popular base and access to expertise in the Sunni community of Iraq.

The invasion was seen as an attack on Muslims as a whole by at least some Muslims in every country, who are willing and able to construct and deliver bombs. From the moment foreign armies were ordered into Iraq, al-Qa'ida was bound to be the winner.

US spokesmen have long blamed al-Qa'ida for every attack in Iraq but in fact the Salafi, proponents of a puritanical and bigoted variant of Sunni Islam, and the Jihadi, willing to wage holy war, belong to many groups,

The al-Qa'ida of Osama bin Laden was a surprisingly weak organisation in Afghanistan and Pakistan before 2001. To make the blood curdling videos of militants training that are frequently shown in documentaries, al-Qa'ida had to hire local tribesmen.

It is in Iraq that al-Qa'ida has come into its own. The US proclamation of the group as its most dangerous enemy served only as effective advertising among young Sunni men. Such denunciations also made it much easier for al-Qa'ida to raise money in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

The three car bombs used in Glasgow and London are far inferior to anything used in Iraq. This is an ominous pointer for the future because Iraq is now full of people who know exactly how to make a highly-effective bomb - and the means to detonate it. It is only a matter of time before this knowledge spreads.

The expertise of the Iraqi bombers attained a high level almost as soon as the first explosions occurred in Baghdad in August 2003. The Jordanian embassy was attacked and then the UN headquarters. Assassination by suicide bomber began with the killing of Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of the largest Shia party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, along with 85 of his followers in Najaf. By November, Jihadists were able to attack half a dozen targets at the same time.

There also appeared to be an endless supply of suicide bombers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and almost every state in the Arab world. The one Muslim country that suicide bombers did not come from was Iran, though the Iranians have been far more vigorously denounced than the Sunni states that produce the bombers.

In the immediate aftermath of the latest bombings in the UK there were immediate suspicions that Iraqi methods had spread. The opposite is true. It is surprising, given that one of the alleged bombers comes from Jordan, home to one million Iraqi refugees, that they did not know more about making a bomb. It is the political not the technical influence of the Iraq war that we are now seeing.

Iraq invasion strengthened the militants - Independent Online Edition > Crime

[Al-khiyal]

July 4, 2007 -- At al-Mansour high school and later at Baghdad College, Bilal Talal Abdulla was known as an earnest young scholar whose fervent Islamic faith seemed at times to border on the over-zealous. His mother was apparently afraid to remove her headscarf in his presence. And one classmate recalls an incident when he tried to destroy a crucifix dropped by a Christian student in a classroom. According to the classmate, he never again spoke to those who insisted on returning it to its owner.

Although raised in Baghdad, Dr Abdulla was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where his father, also a doctor, worked. He has several relatives in Cambridge, some of them associated with the university. In Baghdad, however, he is remembered as a figure from whom classmates kept their distance. "By high school he was known as a Wahhabi," said one former classmate. "He was a Sunni extremist."

It is unclear what checks were made on Dr Abdulla before he was allowed to settle in the UK and apply to work at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley. Last night, however, he was in custody at Paddington Green police station where he was being questioned over his suspected role in both the London and Glasgow attacks. He was in the flaming Jeep which rammed Glasgow airport on Saturday and sources said police also suspect he was one of the men who brought the failed car bombs into central London on Friday. The Home Office refused to disclose whether it had carried out any inquiries about him.

It was also unclear whether checks were made on the backgrounds of the seven other people who have been arrested over the attempted car bombs. Five are doctors or medical students working at NHS hospitals, one has worked as a hospital lab technician, and one arrested in Australia, named last night as Mohamed Haneef, previously worked at a UK hospital.

Counter-terrorist officials said they suspected one or two jihadists with medical qualifications may have been sent to the UK and instructed to recruit accomplices. There was also evidence from phone records that a "guiding hand" may be at large outside the country.

Dr Abdulla, 27, was arrested on Saturday after a Jeep Cherokee in which he was a passenger smashed into the main terminal at Glasgow airport. Eyewitnesses described how he and the driver, Khalid Ahmed, clambered from the vehicle shouting "Allah". The Jeep was laden with propane gas cylinders and petrol cans but failed to detonate.

Mr Ahmed, a fellow doctor understood to be Lebanese, doused himself in petrol and set himself ablaze. He is in a critical condition at the Royal Alexandra, where Dr Abdulla has worked for 11 months.

Dr Abdulla graduated from medical school in Baghdad in 2004, but told his colleagues in Paisley he was Jordanian. Reports said that he was about to be disciplined for spending time visiting Arabic websites while on duty. When he was named as a suspect on Monday, one colleague is said to have burst into tears because she felt she should have warned police about his suspicious behaviour.

Detectives were questioning his colleagues yesterday, hoping to discover more about his contacts. Inquiries were also being made in Cambridge, where he registered as a voter in 2001 while living in a house owned by a local mosque, and where in 2004 he briefly rented a flat. His landlord recalled him as a quiet, deeply religious man. "He was only here for a couple of months then he was off abroad again."

Shiraz Maher, who knew Dr Abdulla three years ago from his connections in Cambridge, told BBC's Newsnight programme that his friend had become radicalised by the destruction in Iraq. "One of his best friends was killed by a Shia militia gang in Iraq," Mr Maher, a former member of the radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir, said. Dr Abdulla had a number of videos featuring the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Dr Abdulla's alleged involvement in the attacks raises the possibility that al-Qaida in Iraq, the organisation headed by al-Zarqawi until his death in a US air strike a year ago, may have been behind the plot.

A document prepared this year by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, and leaked to a Sunday paper, highlighted concerns that Osama bin Laden's main emissary to al-Qaida in Iraq was anxious to attack the UK around the time that Tony Blair stood down as prime minister.

Dr Abdulla's involvement in the Glasgow attack highlights the difficulty facing the Home Office in their attempts to screen doctors from some countries. Those entering the UK with work permits or under the high-skills migrant programme are checked against the criminal records database and checks are sometimes made abroad, but officials accept such checks are unlikely to yield worthwhile results in Iraq.

Born in Aylesbury, shaped in Baghdad, the would-be bomber

[Al-khiyal]

LONDON, July 4, 2007 (AP) - Investigators worked Wednesday to untangle the ties between the eight suspects arrested in connection to the failed car bombing attacks in Britain and were hunting down others believed involved on the periphery of the plot.

British authorities have refused to release many details on the suspects, including whether they were on any watch lists, but have indicated they believe the plot may have links to al-Qaida.

On Wednesday, though, the Press Association news agency reported that some of the suspects had previously come to the attention of British security agencies.

While the information held on database did not alert authorities to the attacks, it did help police to round up suspects quickly, the agency reported, quoting unidentified government sources.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Tuesday that none of the eight suspects was on any American lists that identify potential terror suspects.

The eight people held include one doctor from Iraq and two from India. There is a physician from Lebanon and a Jordanian doctor and his medical assistant wife. Another doctor and a medical student are thought to be from the Middle East.

All employees of the United Kingdom's National Health Service, some worked together as colleagues at hospitals in England and Scotland, and experts and officials say the evidence points to the plot being hatched after they met in Britain, rather than overseas.

"To think that these guys were a sleeper cell and somehow were able to plan this operation from the different places they were, and then orchestrate being hired by the NHS so they could get to the UK, then get jobs in the same area - I think that's a planning impossibility,'' said Bob Ayres, a former U.S. intelligence officer now at London's Chatham House think tank.

"A much more likely scenario is they were here together, they discovered that they shared some common ideology, and then they decided to act on this while here in the UK,'' he said.

No one has been charged in the plot in which two car bombs failed to explode in central London early Friday and two men rammed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas cylinders into the entrance of Glasgow International Airport and set it on fire the following day.

The family of one suspect - Muhammad Haneef, a 27-year-old doctor from India arrested late Monday in Brisbane, Australia - professed his innocence.

"He has been detained unnecessarily. He is innocent,'' Qurat-ul-ain, Haneef's mother, told The Associated Press in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Officials in Australia, where Haneef worked at a hospital, have noted publicly that he had a one-way ticket when he was arrested at the airport.

Sumaiya, Haneef's sister, said Wednesday that he was coming to Bangalore from Australia to see his daughter who was born a week ago. Sumaiya uses one name.

"He called us before leaving (Australia). We came to know about his detention through media,'' Sumaiya said. "He is a responsible citizen of the country and the Indian government should help us get him back. His aim has been to be a good doctor.''

Investigators believe the main plotters have been rounded up, though others involved on the periphery, including at least one British-born suspect, were still being hunted, a British government security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the details.

British-born Muslims behind the bloody 2005 London transit bombings and others in thwarted plots here have been linked to terror training camps and foreign radicals in Pakistan, and the official said Pakistan, India and several other nations were asked to check possible links with the suspects in the latest attacks.

The educational achievements of the suspects in the car bomb attempts is in sharp contrast to the men that carried out the deadly July 7 transit bombings two years ago. The ringleader of that attack, Mohammed Siddique Khan, had a degree in business studies, but with low marks, and his three fellow suicide bombers had little or no higher education.

In the current case, Haneef worked in 2005 at Halton Hospital near Liverpool in northern England, hospital spokesman Mark Shone said.

Another Indian doctor, aged 26, arrested late Saturday in Liverpool, worked at the same hospital, Shone confirmed, but refused to divulge his name.

A third suspect, Mohammed Jamil Asha, a 26-year-old doctor from Jordan of Palestinian heritage, was arrested Saturday with his wife, Marwa Asha, 27, who was identified in British media reports as a medical assistant. He worked at North Staffordshire Hospital, near the Midlands town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

A doctor at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Glasgow, who refused to give his name, said he recognized Asha as a doctor who kept an office there - the same hospital where another suspect, Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, worked.

According to friends of Abdulla's family in Iraq, the 27-year-old doctor came to Britain after graduating from medical school in Baghdad. He was a passenger in the Jeep Cherokee that rammed into the Glasgow airport.

The Jeep's driver - identified by staff at Royal Alexandra Hospital as a Lebanese doctor named Khalid Ahmed - was in critical condition at that hospital from burns suffered in the attack. Police would not confirm his identity.

Investigators believe the same men who parked the explosives-laden cars in London may have also driven the blazing SUV in Glasgow, the British security official said.

The final two suspects, ages 25 and 28, were arrested by police Sunday at Royal Alexandra Hospital. Staff said one was a medical student and the other a junior doctor, without giving their names. British media said they were from Saudi Arabia, but police refused to comment.

U.K. police hunting more plot suspects

[Bent_Bladi]

BETRAYAL OF OUR FAITH & PROFESSION

July 4, 2007 -- AS THE investigation of the terror plots in London and Glasgow unfolds, I am experiencing the emotions I often do in hearing that people associated with my faith are involved - incredulity, anger, and outrage that once again, these heinous acts are associated with people professing to be Muslims.

But this time, my sense of disbelief and betrayal reaches a new level as I learn that many of those accused share not only my faith but also my profession.

The thought of physicians treating patients while secretly plotting to kill innocent people sickens and angers me on a new level.

It is the ultimate betrayal of the trust placed in them to use their hands for healing, their intellects for diagnosis, and their demeanors to bring comfort to the sick.

As a Muslim physician, I believe the gifts I have been given are entrusted to me by God for the purpose of serving humanity.

Islam teaches me that whatever I do, God is witness to my actions and intentions and I will be accountable to Him.

The Koranic verse that equates saving one life with saving the lives of all of humanity teaches me the sacredness of each life and inspires me to strive for professional excellence.

For me, the most rewarding part of being a pediatrician is knowing that my patients' families trust me with the most important thing in their lives: their children.

Muslim physicians have contributed to the well-being of America in innumerable ways, from caring for the poor in free medical clinics to serving in disaster zones after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina.

My own cousins from Pakistan were surgery residents at a New York hospital on trauma call on September 11, 2001, treating patients injured in those attacks.

The stark contrast between my experience as a Muslim doctor and the news I am now seeing helps explain the disbelief and emotions I feel when learning that Muslim doctors are accused of such heinous actions that betray their profession and their faith.

I know these people are an aberration, people gone wrong as human beings sometimes do. If these doctors are guilty, they must be brought to justice.

I only hope that we remember to deal with these individuals as just that - individuals who chose evil on their own and not as representative of their faith or profession.

I hope we as a community refrain from generalizing the acts of suspected criminals to Muslim doctors in general.

[Bent_Bladi]

BETRAYAL OF OUR FAITH & PROFESSION

Arrrrgh!!!

Not only that... but for people applying to medical schools - think of how the administration will think when they see a Middle Eastern applicant...

Ya ilahi, these idiots just keep making life harder for us.......

[Al-khiyal]

"Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed the whole of mankind.

And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind."

July 6, 2007 -- British Muslims are borrowing a phrase used by UK opponents of the Iraq war in a new campaign condemning attacks in this country.

The "Not in Our Name" campaign will be launched with advertisements in national newspapers on Friday under the title "Muslims United".

The move was prompted by the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow and organisers hope the campaign will emphasise how ordinary Muslims reject terrorism.

The advertisements praise the emergency services as "courageous" and laud the Government's "calm and proportionate" reaction to the crisis.

They carry a quotation from the Qur'an reading: "Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed the whole of mankind.

"And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind."

The advertisements claim the backing of an alphabet of supporters from accountants to youth workers.

Members of the Muslims United group behind the campaign include the Conservative Muslim Forum, Islamic Relief, the Islamic Society of Britain and groups such as the Muslim Doctors and Dentists Association.

A later phase of the campaign will see advertisements placed on billboards, London buses and the Tube carrying a similar message.

Organisers have also set up a website - on Muslims United - carrying detailed information about Islamic teaching and history.

'Not in our name' say U.K. Muslims

[Al-khiyal]

July 7, 2007 -- Bilal Abdullah, the doctor who was who was arrested after a flaming Jeep was driven into the doors of the arrivals hall of Glasgow Airport last Saturday, is expected to appear in court today charged with conspiring to cause explosions, Scotland Yard said last night.

Mr Abdullah, 27, will appear before magistrates in Westminster, central London, in connection with failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

He was working as a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, before his arrest and was transferred to London's Paddington Green police station for questioning before being charged last night on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Two trainee doctors, aged 25 and 28, arrested at the same hospital, are among a total of seven people to have been arrested in the UK over the plot.

Police in Australia have questioned five more migrant doctors in connection with inquiries into the failed bombings in the UK, and have seized more computer records and other materials.

Mick Keelty, Australia's federal police commissioner, said four doctors of Indian background with experience in the British health system had been interviewed and released. Another physician of Indian descent based in Sydney had also been questioned. Computers were seized from hospitals in Perth and the outback mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

"It doesn't mean that they're all suspects but it is quite a complex investigation and the links to the UK are becoming more concrete," Mr Keelty said.

The questioning was "to gather evidence or gather information about the network, about who is linked to who, and who, if in fact if anybody, has committed any criminal offence".

The developments came as health service officials confirmed that two of the suspects arrested in Britain, brothers Sabeel Ahmed, 26, and Kafeel Ahmed, 28, had unsuccessfully applied for medical jobs in the Western Australia public hospital system in the past two years. They did not have enough medical experience and one failed an English language exam.

The West Australian Medical Association president, Geoff Dobbs, said one of the men applied several times using slightly different names. Kafeel Ahmed doused himself in petrol and set himself ablaze after the attack on Glasgow airport. Police sources in India said he told his family he was working on a "confidential global warming project" in the UK.

Just hours after two car bombs in London failed to explode, Kafeel Ahmed was alleged to have called them for the last time to say that his project was facing problems and he was going away for a while. In fact he was an engineering student who had been developing tactile maps for the blind.

Yesterday he remained in a critical condition with 92% burns after being transferred to a specialist unit at the Glasgow Royal infirmary, where he is understood to be under armed police guard. An Indian citizen, he is thought to have lived in the UK for at least six years, first studying aeronautical engineering at Queen's University, Belfast. In 2004 he began a PhD in fluid dynamics at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

Two other suspects have also lived in Cambridge in recent years. Mr Abdullah studied English there. Mohammed Asha, 26, a Jordanian neuro-surgeon arrested while driving on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday evening, trained at the city's Addenbrooke's hospital.

Residents in the Bangalore suburb of Banashankari, where the Ahmed brothers grew up, identified them as members of Tablighi Jamaat, a proselytising group which some experts describe as peaceful and apolitical, but which others accuse of recruiting foot soldiers for international jihad.

In London, Gordon Brown said the police and the security service had made progress. "From what I know, we are getting to the bottom of this cell that has been responsible for what is happening," he said.

FAQ: The investigation

What stage has the police investigation reached?

Seven people are in custody in the UK and Australia and have been questioned about the plot. An eighth, who has burns over 92% of his body, is too seriously ill to be interviewed. Police believe most of the alleged plotters have been rounded up.

How were the suspects linked?

Four clear links have emerged: three suspects are from the same family; two were members of Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary group; three lived in Cambridge in recent years and almost certainly prayed at the same mosque; and seven had worked for the NHS.

Why did the bombs not explode?

The bombers are thought to have attempted to use propane gas cylinders because it is now difficult to purchase ammonium nitrate fertiliser without attracting attention and acetone peroxide bombs are unstable. Tests at the government's Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead, Kent, have shown exactly what went wrong. Police are not revealing what this was, but have dismissed claims that there was a fault in hypodermic needles that formed part of the detonator.

Are any other suspects likely to be charged with any offences?

Bilal Abdullah's alleged accomplice who suffered severe burns, will be charged if he survives. But others may be released without charge.

Were the bombers known to the security and intelligence agencies?

They were not on MI5's database of 1,600-plus individuals in Britain identified as preparing terrorist attacks here or abroad. But there are said to have been "traces" of them on a bigger database of individuals of potential interest shared by MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. These were discovered through mobile phones and emails linked to individuals overseas overheard discussing jihad.

Doctor to be charged over explosions