Ashes terrorist plot uncovered

2006-10-09 08:09

Sydney - Terrorists plotted to kill the Australian and England cricket teams by pumping poisonous gas into their change rooms at an Ashes Test last year, a newspaper reported, prompting officials to promise security would be tight for this year's series in Australia.

London newspaper The Sunday Times reported that two of the suicide bombers involved in the July 2005 attacks on London's mass transit system were also involved in discussions about killing the two sporting teams in an attack using sarin gas.

The plan didn't go ahead after the two supposed attackers fought over the idea because one was a cricket fan, the Times reported, citing a man it named as Ahmed Hafiz.

Hafiz claimed the men, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, were instructed in 2004 to get jobs as stewards at Edgbaston, the Birmingham venue for the second Ashes Test on August 4, 2005.

They were then to pump sarin - a highly toxic nerve gas - into the two teams' dressing rooms during the match. Hafiz said Tanweer objected to the attack because of his affection for cricket.

"Tanweer had (Khan) in a headlock, and the fight had to be broken up by the chaperone," Hafiz was quoted as saying.

Hafiz said the plot to poison the players at Edgbaston was being considered as a back-up to the July 7, 2005, attacks, when four bombs exploded on subway cars and a bus in London's morning rush hour, killing 52 commuters and four British Muslim bombers.

The Times said Hafiz claimed to have learned of the plot from members of his extended family who are involved in running a terrorist training camp in Kashmir.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Australian and British authorities are checking the claims, which some experts said appeared unlikely because making and storing sarin gas was very difficult.

"Whether this particular report is true or not, we have to again remind ourselves of the reality that there are people around who want to do us in, who do want to do damage to Australia and what Australia stands for and that's been the case for a long time," Howard said.

Howard has said previously that sporting events in Australia - which regularly attract tens of thousands of people to packed stadiums - could be targeted by terrorists.

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said his organisation had never been aware of the Edgbaston threat, and that it had consulted closely with British police and other security officials after the bombings before deciding to go ahead with last year's Ashes tour.

"At no stage then or since was there any specific issue relating to the Australian or England teams raised with us," Sutherland said in a statement.

- AP