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'Failed London bombers' accused of extremist Muslim plot
2007-01-15
British prosecutors have accused six suspects of mounting "an extremist Muslim plot" using suicide bombers to try to kill masses of London commuters in July 2005, days after a successful terror attack. At the start of a long-awaited trial Monday, the six Muslims were alleged to have tried to carry out another series of "murderous suicide bombings" on July 21, two weeks to the day after July 7 attacks which left 56 people dead. The plot to blow up three subway trains and a bus only failed because detonators did not work properly, leaving four attempted suicide bombers with their unexploded devices, Britain's highest-security court heard in Woolwich, southeast London. In what is likely to become one of the most high-profile cases involving alleged terrorism seen in Britain, the accused deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life. The trial of Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, Hussain Osman, 28, Yassin Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Adel Yahya, 24 -- many of whom are of east African origin -- is expected to take up to four months. The alleged failed attacks came exactly two weeks after four Islamist suicide bombers attacked three London Underground trains and a bus, killing themselves and 52 others in Britain's worst peacetime terrorist incident. The court heard Monday from the prosecution, which said the role of Ibrahim, Asiedu, Osman, Omar and Mohammed in the alleged conspiracy was ultimately "that of would-be suicide bombers". "This case is concerned with an extremist Muslim plot," prosecution lawyer Nigel Sweeney said. "The ultimate objective of which was to carry out a number of murderous suicide bombings on the public transport system in London. "The day eventually chosen was Thursday, July 21 2005, just 14 days after the carnage of July 7." Sweeney said evidence showed that from March 2005, the accused, "in various combinations, were in frequent contact and had a number of meetings in furtherance of the conspiracy". He said the bomb components were bought from late April or early May 2005. "The conspiracy had been in existence long before the events of July 7. "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." Sweeney said Omar's one-bedroom flat in New Southgate, north London, was the "bomb factory" and "where the great majority, if not all, of the work required to make those bombs was carried out". The court heard that the bombs were made of a mixture of liquid hydrogen peroxide and chapati flour, which would burn with the oxygen provided by the hydrogen peroxide. Sweeney said the bomb would be detonated by several grams of triacetone triperoxide (TATP). "In each case, the TATP detonator fired but the main charge failed to explode," he said. He said Mohammed had written a suicide note, a draft of which had been found in pieces, while a full version was discovered at a friend's home. The prosecution's case is expected to take between six and eight weeks. On April 18 last year, Ibrahim, Mohammed, Omar and Osman denied conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions, attempted murder of transport users and having improvised explosive devices with intent to endanger life. Asiedu, 32, who was not charged with attempted murder, denied the other charges. He was charged over a discarded rucksack found in a west London park on July 23.
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