Mohammad Sidique Khan
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Mohammad Sidique Khan (October 20, 1974 – July 7, 2005) was the oldest of the four men responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bombs were detonated on three London Underground trains and one bus in central London suicide attacks that killed 52 people and injured over 700. Khan bombed the Edgware Road train in which seven people died, including himself.
On September 1, 2005, a videotape emerged in which Khan gave his reasons for the attack. The videotape, shown by Al Jazeera Television, also shows Ayman al-Zawahiri who is believed to be the second-highest leader of Al Qaeda. The two men do not appear together, and it is believed that Al Qaeda was not connected with the bombing. [1] In the film, Khan declares "I and thousands like me have forsaken everything for what we believe" and refers to his expectation that the media would already have painted a picture of him in accordance with government 'spin'. He goes on to say "Your democratically elected governments continually perpetrate atrocities against my people all over the world. Your support makes you directly responsible. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation."
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[edit] Biography
Born in St James's University Hospital, Leeds, he grew up in Beeston but moved to Lees Holm in Dewsbury, near Leeds in West Yorkshire in early 2005. His father, Tika Khan, a foundry worker, was born in Pakistan. His mother is Mamida Begum. He received his secondary education at South Leeds High School, formerly the Matthew Murray High School, which was also attended by Hasib Hussain, the July 7 bus bomber. Khan went on to study at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Khan was married to Hasina Patel, who is of Indian Muslim descent, a "community enrichment officer," who had worked in schools with special needs pupils. They met at Leeds Metropolitan University and married in 2001. Their daughter, Maryam, was born in May 2004. Khan worked at Hillside Primary School in Dewsbury as a "learning mentor" with the children of immigrant families who had just arrived in Britain. Khan's colleagues commented that he was a quiet individual who didn't talk about his religious or political beliefs.[2] He was introduced to MPs Hilary Benn and Jon Trickett during his school's trip to the House of Commons in July 2004.
Khan was also involved in the community-run Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Beeston, and worked at its youth outreach project, the Hamara Youth Access Point (HYAP) at 73 Lodge Lane. This premises is one of seven in the Leeds area being examined by police. Staff at the centre have confirmed that two of the London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain, frequented the HYAP. Khan used the outreach project as a recruitment centre, according to a friend of his who spoke to The Guardian. [3]
Khan attended the Stratford Street mosque in Leeds.
His mother-in-law, Farida Patel, is also involved in education and works as a council liaison officer at Birkdale School in Dewsbury. In 2004, she was a guest at a Buckingham Palace garden party, in recognition for her work amongst the Muslim community in Dewsbury.
According to his birth certificate, Khan was registered as "Mohammad Sidique Khan". Other spellings of his name include Mohammed Sadique Khan and Mohammad Sadiq Khan.
[edit] London bombings
On the morning of July 7, 2005, Khan travelled by car with his three accomplices to Luton in Bedfordshire (see right), from where the four men caught a train to King's Cross train station in London.
From there, Khan entered the London Underground and boarded a Circle Line Tube train heading west, travelling four stops to Edgware Road, in a heavily Arab neighbourhood of London. The bomb detonated at 8.50 a.m., just as the train was pulling out of the Edgware Road station. Personal documents of Khan's were found on the train.
[edit] Intelligence assessments
Khan is alleged to have travelled regularly to Pakistan and Afghanistan to attend military training camps, [4] and is also believed to have spent time in Israel. He is also alleged to have been trained with Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiah and to be directly involved with the 2002 Bali bombing [5].
According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Khan travelled to Israel on February 19, 2003, staying only one night and leaving the next day. Maariv reports that he is suspected of having helped to plan the April 30, 2003 suicide bombing of the Mike's Place bar in Tel Aviv which killed three Israelis, carried out by two British citizens of Pakistani descent. The Israeli government is allegedly playing down the report. [6]
According to David Leppard in The Sunday Times, Khan was assessed by MI5 in 2004, after his name appeared during an investigation into a plan to detonate a 600-lb truck bomb in London. MI5 concluded that Khan's link to the plotters was indirect, and he was not placed under surveillance. [7]
U.S. intelligence officials have said that Khan was known to Mohammed Junaid Babar, who has pleaded guilty in the U.S. to providing material support to al-Qaeda. Babar, who has told investigators that he worked on a plan to blow up pubs, train stations, and restaurants in the UK, identified Khan as someone he had met in Pakistan. [8]
On July 18, 2005, the Pakistani government released video footage of Khan arriving at Karachi airport on November 19, 2004 with Shehzad Tanweer, another of the London bombers, on Turkish Airlines flight TK 1056. Khan and Tanweer stayed in Pakistan until February 8, 2005, then flew back to London together. A third member of the London group, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, arrived in Karachi on July 15, 2004 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on flight SV714. [9]
According to Charles Shoebridge, Khan may even have been working as an informant for the security service.[10]
[edit] See also
- Shehzad Tanweer, Aldgate train
- Hasib Hussain, No. 30 bus
- Germaine Lindsay, Russell Square train
[edit] References
Omar Bakri talking on video before the attacks about the coming attacks in the UK http://glen-jenvey.com/video.html
- London bombers tied to Al Qaeda plot in Pakistan, by Brian Ross, ABC News, July 14, 2005
- "Mentor to the young and vulnerable", by Sandra Laville and Dilpazier Aslam, The Guardian, July 14, 2005
- "Killer in the classroom" by Daniel McGrory, Michael Evans and Dominic Kennedy, The Times, July 14, 2005
- "'Father figure' inspired young bombers" by Sandra Laville, Audrey Gillan and Dilpazier Aslam, The Guardian, July 15, 2005
- "MI5 judged bomber 'no threat'" by David Leppard, The Sunday Times, July 17, 2005
- "London bomber visited Israel - Israeli official" by Dan Williams, Reuters, July 18, 2005
- "Pakistan militants linked to London attacks" by Luke Harding and Rosie Cowan, The Guardian, July 19, 2005
- "London bomber video aired on TV", BBC News, last updated September 2, 2005, 08:29 GMT (with a short excerpt from the video).
[edit] External links
- Full text of the segment of the tape shown on Al-Jazeera, not necessarily the full text of the entire tape. (BBC transcription)
- Killer in the Classroom Times of London.
