|
'We played with the terrorists'
27/07/2005 11:27 - (SA)
London - Kicking a football around outside a shabby apartment block is the main memory for two young boys of one of London's four suspected attempted suicide bombers who turned out to be a neighbour.
Conor Jones, 11 and his 16-year-old friend Richard Landley said they used to play football with Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27 from Eritrea, who is believed to have tried and failed to blow himself up on a Number 26 bus last Thursday.
They also claim to know Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, of Somalia who is thought to have attempted unsuccessfully to explode his rucksack-carried device on a London Underground train at the central Warren Street station, as two more accomplices attacked another two subway trains in a botched re-run of the deadly July 7 bombings here.
"I used to play football with Muktar and I knew Omar," said Jones, a small, angel-faced boy, who lives in a flat on the third floor of Curtis House, a tower block in the north London suburb of New Southgate.
'They were friendly'
Ibrahim and Omar are believed to have rented a council-owned apartment on the ninth floor.
"They were nice and friendly," Jones said, his friend Landley nodding in agreement. "They spoke poor English. They did not speak much with us. They would just say hello."
Ever since news broke that police had raided the ninth-floor apartment early on Monday, the two youngsters have been besieged by reporters wanting information.
A policeman has even been placed at the entrance of the grey stone block to prevent anyone other than residents from entering the premises.
Police confirmed that they were testing substances found at the address, amid media reports that the would-be suicide bombers had turned the flat into a bomb factory and had returned there after their failed strike to rearm.
As investigations continued on Tuesday, police passed in and out of the apartment carrying plastic boxes containing possible evidence to help with their enquiry.
The enormity of what his football-playing companion is accused of has made Jones's stomach turn.
"I was very surprised and now I am a bit worried and scared because they were terrorists living upstairs," he said, noting that the last time he played football with Ibrahim was a month ago.
Ibrahim, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, arrived in Britain from Eritrea as a 14-year-old dependent in 1992. He received full British citizenship last year.
For his part, Omar arrived in Britain in 1992 aged 11 and was granted indefinite leave to remain in May 2000.
Police have not yet released the identity of the other two suspected would-be bombers.
- AFP
|
News
