The London Blasts: Media Review

DAY TEN: Sunday 17 July 2005

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Part 2: The Four Bombers

ORIGINS OF THE PLOT

The Sunday Telegraph reports of the Leeds bombers, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammed Sidique Khan, that 'it was in a backstreet bookshop that the trio "turned religious" about four years ago, says one friend.'

How did a bookshop have such an effect?

Their conversion, he claims, coincided with the opening of Iqra, an Islamic bookshop, in Beeston. "I think the shop is innocent," the friend says, "but I think it sold under-the-counter stuff, videos of what was happening in Bosnia, Iraq and Chechnya. Stuff the television could not show. Rapes, murders, mutilation, all saying: 'Look what is happening to your Muslim brothers and sisters.' You see that and you start to get angry. That was the beginning."

The 29-year-old, who refused to give his name, added: "From that, you feel you want to learn more about religion, about your Muslim brothers and sisters around the world getting murdered."

The paper gives more background on some of the men:

'...Tanweer, a lean lad who dyed his hair and whose main interests had once been sport, had of late become more entrenched in anti-British and American feelings.'

With Mohammed Sidique Khan, 'close friends deny knowing anything of his weapons training at remote Afghan camps, some confess to branding him a "fruitcake" because of his ranting about Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan.

One man - who telephoned the BBC and also contacted police over his concerns... [said Khan's comments] were "a little extreme. He and his friends were very upset with what was happening to Muslims around the world. I thought he was a bit of a fruitcake, an odd fish."

The Sunday Times profile of the bombers is also based on a visit to Beeston:

'The young Asian men — few young Asian women are found on the street — seem as interested in affairs in the Middle East as in their local neighbourhood.'

'One young man said that it “hurt” to “see our brothers being killed” in the Middle East. Pav Khan, 20, who knew one of the suicide bombers, said by way of explanation: “If he did it, look at what’s happening in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.” '

'Although he and others condemned the London bombings, they shared an undercurrent of resentment at American and British military action in the Middle East.'

' “It’s all about the stance of Tony Blair and British policies,” said Mohammed, a twentysomething ambling along the street who said that he had known Khan. “You’ve seen innocent citizens dying [in the London bombs], but then innocent citizens died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and even Algeria." '

Incidentally, this profile also carries some speculation about the timing of the attacks:

'The timing may have been significant: 8.50am. In the Koran, chapter 8, verse 50, reads: “And had you seen when the angels will cause to die those who disbelieve, smiting their faces and their backs and saying, ‘Taste the punishment of burning’." '

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