Failed July 21st bombers go on trial

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Times OnlineJanuary 15, 2007


The six men on trial for the alleged plot to bomb London on July 21 2005. From top left: Asiedu, Ibrahim, Mohammed. Second row:Omar, Osman, Yahya. (Metropolitan Police)




Six go on trial for failed July 21 'suicide bombings'

David Byers and agencies



A group of six Muslim men plotted a series of "murderous suicide bombings" on London's public transport system just days after the July 7 London bombings, a court has heard.

At the opening of a high-profile trial of the men, Woolwich Crown Court heard that they were engaged in an "extremist Muslim plot" to target the capital using bombs made partly of chapatti flour.

The alleged attacks would have occurred on July 21, 14 days after the "carnage" of the July 7 London bombings, Nigel Sweeney, QC, for the Crown, said.

Police found a bomb factory where the explosives were to be put together and timetable for doing so, he added.

"This case is concerned with an extremist Muslim plot, the ultimate objective of which was to carry out a number of murderous suicide bombings on the public transport system in London," Mr Sweeney told the court.

"The day eventually chosen was Thursday July 21 2005, just 14 days after the carnage of July 7."

When the bombs failed to explode, one suspect fled London disguised as a Muslim woman in a burka and another left the country for Italy, Mr Sweeney told the court.

The accused - Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, from Stoke Newington, north London; Ramzi Mohammed, 25, from North Kensington, west London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; and Adel Yahya, 24, of Tottenham, north London - have all denied the charges.

Mr Sweeney told the jury that Mr Omar's one-bedroom flat was the conspirators' bomb factory, "where the great majority, if not all, of the work required to make those bombs was carried out".

A total of 284 bottles of hydrogen peroxide had been purchased by the alleged conspirators between April and May 2005, he added, while "two rudimentary seven-day timetables" had also been found at the flat, which appeared to be a rota for three men - Mr Ibrahim, Mr Asiedu and Mr Omar - to oversee its concentration with various raw materials to convert it into explosives.

On the reverse of one of the timetables police found calculations for the process, the court heard.

The explosives were constructed using a mixture of liquid hydrogen peroxide, acetone - similar to nail varnish remover - acid and chapatti flour, he added.

Mr Sweeney added that a Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Kent had carried out explosive tests using hydrogen peroxide and flour since the events of July 2005, and found the mixture exploded "on every occasion".

He added that the evidence of such extensive planning showed that the plot was entirely seperate from the July 7 attacks - and was in no way a conspiracy.

"It is our case that the events with which this case is concerned are plainly not some hastily arranged copycat, albeit, as we shall see, like 7/7, one of the bombs was deployed on a bus somewhat after the others," he said.

Mr Sweeney told the jury the prosecution's case was that the role of the first five defendants - Mr Ibrahim, Mr Asiedu, Mr Osman, Mr Omar and Mr Mohammed - was ultimately "that of would-be suicide bombers", while the sixth defendant, Mr Yahya, was "involved, at the least of it, taking part in some of the essential preparation done in furtherance of the conspiracy, albeit that he left the country nearly six weeks before July 21 and had not returned by that date".

In the event, only four of the suspects actually attempted to explode their devices, Mr Sweeney told the court, as Manfo Asiedu "lost his nerve at the last moment" and dumped his bomb in a wooded area in west London. It was found two days later, the court heard.

The other four alleged bombers conducted their syncronised explosions as planned but, although their detonators fired, their explosives failed to go off.

Afterwards, Mr Omar attempted to flee London wearing a burka, Mr Sweeney added. He was caught on CCTV at Golders Green coach station in London, and at Birmingham coach station, wearing the Muslim women's dress, and he was eventually traced to a house in Birmingham on July 27, where he was found "fully clothed, stood in a bath, wearing a rucksack on his back."

Muktar Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed were arrested at a flat near Notting Hill, two days later while Hussain Osman travelled to Rome, Italy, where he was arrested on July 29.

Following his arrest in Rome, Mr Sweeney said, Mr Osman claimed to police that the plot was not a serious attempt to kill commuters but "a deliberate hoax in order to make a political point".

However, Mr Sweeney told the court: "The prosecution case is that this was no hoax.

"The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

All six defendents deny the charges. The trial continues.

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