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Cleric 'predicted bombings'
24/12/2005 09:35 - (SA)
London - Television footage was screened on Friday of radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed apparently predicting terrorists would strike on the British mainland several months before the July 7 London bombings.
Channel 4 News showed the exiled former spiritual leader of Al-Muhajiroun making the claims in a video shot about three months before the suicide bombings by four suspected Islamic extremists which killed 52 commuters.
Bakri, a Lebanese national of Syrian origin who lived in Britain from 1986 until he was stripped of his British residency in August as part of London's bid to rein in radical Islamic leaders, was filmed seated in an armchair.
The footage was circulated on the internet website of a group calling itself the Saved Sect, Channel 4 News reported.
In it, Bakri warns followers to "take precautions" for the possibility of terrorist attacks in Britain, adding: "It's going to happen."
"The mujahedin are everywhere. They are everywhere around, fighting. And don't worry, they are causing enough anarchy around the world to put everybody down on their knees," he said.
'It's going to happen, but don't worry'
"When it becomes anarchy, it becomes one ... becomes 'nobody governs', becomes 'fight for your lives'. And that is exactly what is going on around the world now.
"That's why, may Allah protect us all, if anything happens in the UK, the kufir (non-Muslims) come to us, start to capture these people who are here and there ...
"It's going to happen, but don't worry. You see, if it happens or don't happen, nothing can happen that deceives Allah. If Allah destines then it is going to happen. But take your precautions. Be aware."
Interviewed on the programme from Beirut, where he is now based, Bakri said: "I believe they (the July 7 bombers) are terrorists, no doubt about it. Even (Osama) bin Laden is a terrorist, I always believe so.
"I always said, if I knew about anybody planning any form of bombing in London, I will stop him and I will call on the Muslim community to stop him."
Bakri famously praised the September 11 hijackers as "magnificent". He then triggered further outrage after the July 7 bombings when he said he would never tip off police if he knew a Muslim was about to carry out an attack.
In September, he told France 3 television that all Muslims should leave Europe and was convinced that the "Islamic flag will fly one day over Downing Street (the British Prime Minister's official London residence)".
- AFP
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