Alleged London bomber 'idolised bin Laden'
A suspected suicide bomber in the London attacks revered Osama bin Laden and was upset over the deaths of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir, a newspaper in Pakistan reported today.
A day earlier, a Pakistan intelligence official said an “important” man suspected of links with the London attacks had been arrested in the eastern city of Lahore. The official did not name the suspect, nor provide details of his alleged role in the bombings.
Authorities are investigating whether the suspects received training or other assistance from militants in Pakistan.
The English-language Dawn newspaper quoted an uncle of Shahzad Tanweer, 22, as saying the suspected bomber last year visited family members in Chak 477-GB, a farming village near Faisalabad, an industrial city in eastern Pakistan.
“Osama bin Laden was Shahzad’s ideal and he used to discuss the man with his cousins and friends in the village,” Dawn quoted the uncle, Tahir Pervaiz, as saying. On Friday, some 2,000 people gathered at a memorial service for Tanweer at a mosque in Chak 477-GB, Dawn reported.
Tanweer, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, travelled to the village last November and stayed with relatives for three to four weeks, Pervaiz said.
Another suicide bombing suspect, 30-year-old Mohammed Sidique Khan, visited Tanweer there many times from an uncle’s house in Rawalpindi, he told the Dawn newspaper.
Pakistani officials have confirmed that Tanweer and Khan arrived together on November 19, 2004 in Karachi, a transit hub and the nation’s biggest city. They left for London on February 8, 2005.
Intelligence officials believe Tanweer spent several days at an Islamic school near Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province. Pervaiz, however, said Tanweer had not spent any time at a school, or madrassa.
Pervaiz said that Tanweer’s parents telephoned him immediately after the London attacks on July 7 and told him that their son was missing. Pervaiz said he was shocked and puzzled to learn Tanweer was a bombing suspect.
Another suspect of Pakistani ancestry, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, arrived in Pakistan on July 15.
Authorities were trying to ascertain when he left the country.
The fourth alleged bomber was Jermaine Lindsay, a Jamaican-born Briton. Fifty-six people, including the bombers, died in the July 7 blasts on three underground trains and a bus.
The New York Times, citing unnamed intelligence and law enforcement officials, reported on its website late yesterday that police have begun a worldwide hunt for Haroon Rashid Aswat, a former aide to Abu Hamza al-Masri, one of Britain’s most militant Islamic clerics.
The paper said officials believe Aswat may have provided support for the London attacks. He is also believed to have attempted to set up an al Qaida training camp in Bly, Oregon, six years ago.
Aswat has also been named as a suspect in the London attack in other news reports.
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