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Profile of the London bombers
13/07/2005 14:23 - (SA)
London - Here are profiles of what has been reported about four young British men of Pakistani origin who travelled to London last Thursday morning, each carrying a rucksack packed with explosives, and blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus.
The police have yet to officially confirm media reports that the attacks, which left at least 52 people dead, were the work of suicide bombers, but home secretary Charles Clarke spoke of the influences that led "four young men to blow themselves and others up on the tube on a Thursday morning."
- SUSPECT BOMBER ONE: Shehzad Tanweer, aged 20 to 22, lived in Leeds, northern England, and is widely reported to have blown himself up on a subway train near Aldgate station, east London. The bombing left seven people dead.
Tanweer, who sometimes worked at his family's fish and chip shop in a suburb of Leeds, was a good student who played cricket for a local team, friends told the British press.
With a brother and two sisters, he was described as a sporty man who loved martial arts, drove his father's Mercedes around the streets and had many friends in the Beeston area of the city.
"He is as sound as a pound," close friend, Azi Mohammed, told the Guardian daily. "The idea that he was involved in terrorism or extremism is ridiculous. The idea that he went to London and exploded a bomb is unbelievable."
Tanweer is thought to have gone to Lawnswood school in Beeston, before studying sports science at Leeds University. He did not have a regular job and is believed to have recently travelled to Pakistan, the Guardian said.
- SUSPECT BOMBER TWO: Mohammed Sadique Khan, 30, from Dewsbury, is thought to have attacked a subway train at Edgware Road station, west London. Seven people died in the attack.
The Times newspaper said the man was the married father of an eight-month-old baby. He met his wife, whom he married two years ago, while a student at Leeds University, the Daily Mail reported.
Khan's wife had been working as an area support assistant for the council in Leeds before giving birth to their child.
- SUSPECT BOMBER THREE: The Independent newspaper, however, identified the Edgware Road attacker as Eliaz Fiaz, 30, from Dewsbury, a town near Leeds.
The Times said he came from Luton, north of London, where he met his three colleagues, who drove to the town in rented cars.
The four bombers are believed to have left Luton, which has a large Muslim population, and travelled together to King's Cross on a commuter train.
- SUSPECT BOMBER FOUR: Hasib Hussain, 19, also from Leeds is widely accused of blowing himself up on the number 30 double-decker bus near Tavistock Square in Bloomsbury, central London almost one hour after the subway bombings. The attack left 13 people dead.
An anxious call from Hussain's mother who had been unable to contact her son immediately after the blasts reportedly led the police to unravel the identity of the four bombers by studying CCTV footage.
The Times said Hussein had gone "a bit wild" as a younger teenager, but had became devoutly religious about 18 months ago after returning from a trip to Pakistan to visit his relatives.
He lived with his Pakistani-born factory worker parents in a rundown suburb of Leeds, the Daily Mail reported. As a child, he studied at the Matthew Murray High School.
- AFP
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