Mohammad Sidique Khan

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Mohammad Sidique Khan (October 20, 1974 – July 7, 2005) was the oldest of the four suicide bombers 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 the British government says that Al Qaeda was not connected with the bombing. However, the Home Office believes the tape was edited after the suicide attacks and dismisses it as evidence of al-Qaeda's involvement.[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 Leeds 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 did not 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). 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 a school in Dewsbury. In 1998 she was the first Asian woman ever to be invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party, meeting the Queen and other members of the royal family, in recognition for her work amongst the Muslim community in Dewsbury, and again in 2004. She was said to have been "devastated" by the actions of her son-in-law.[4]

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

Luton train station, 07:21 BST, July 7, 2005, from left Hasib Hussain, Germaine Lindsay, Mohammad Sidique Khan, and Shehzad Tanweer.

On the morning of July 7, 2005, Khan travelled by car with his three accomplices to Luton in Bedfordshire, 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, [3] and is also believed to have spent time in Israel. He is also alleged to have been trained with Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah 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] MI5 was later criticised for failing to follow up leads relating to Khan.[8] The service responded to the criticisms.[9] Channel 4 News published what it said were excerpts from the transcript of the tape.[10]

Khan arriving at Karachi airport on November 19, 2004 on the same flight as Shehzad Tanweer. Khan along with Tanweer before travelling to Muridke or Balakot and Muzzafarabad Terror Training Camps in Jammu and Kashmir,Footage released by the Pakistani government.
Khan arriving at Karachi airport on November 19, 2004 on the same flight as Shehzad Tanweer. Khan along with Tanweer before travelling to Muridke or Balakot and Muzzafarabad Terror Training Camps in Jammu and Kashmir,Footage released by the Pakistani government.

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[7].

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. [11]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Leak reveals official story of London bombings | Politics | The Observer
  2. ^ Killer in the classroom - Britain - Times Online
  3. ^ a b Laville, Sandra; Audrey Gillan and Dilpazier Aslam. "'Father figure' inspired young bombers", The Guardian, 2005-07-15. Retrieved on 2007-03-03. 
  4. ^ Family who 7/7 bomber Khan left behind - Yorkshire Post
  5. ^ London bomb link to Bali mastermind - World - theage.com.au
  6. ^ [1][dead link]
  7. ^ a b MI5 judged bomber 'no threat' - Sunday Times - Times Online
  8. ^ Leppard, David; Richard Woods. "Spies ‘hid’ bomber tape from MPs", Sunday Times, May 14, 2006. Retrieved on 21 November. 
  9. ^ MI5 | Links between the 7 July bombers and the fertiliser plotters
  10. ^ Israel, Simon. "7/7 an intelligence failure?", Channel 4 News. 
  11. ^ Harding, Luke; Rosie Cowan. "Pakistan militants linked to London attacks", The Guardian, 2005-07-19. Retrieved on 2007-03-03. 

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Khan, Mohammad Sidique
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH 2005
PLACE OF DEATH