July 13, 2005
Fox News
Details have emerged about three of the four suspected homicide bombers who carried out the deadly terrorist attacks on London last week.
According to British media reports, three of the four are described as British nationals of Pakistani origin, all of whom lived in and around Leeds in the English Midlands, which is heavily populated with lower- and lower-middle-class blue-collar workers.
Many Pakistanis immigrated to the area several decades ago to work in textile mills, many of which have since shut down. The area is rife with ethnic tension and was the site of notorious race riots in 2001.
Christina Corbett, a London intelligence analyst, told FOX News that if the attacks were the work of Al Qaeda, the terror network would most likely have sent an expert to train the cell and extracted this person before the attack was carried out.
"It's highly likely that these four men were not working alone," Corbett said. "One of these men reportedly was 19, which is way too young to be training in a [terrorist] camp in Afghanistan."
Corbett said the developments in the case could help uncover other terror cells operating in the U.K.
"I don't think that further attacks have been ruled out; they were certainly expected after the [bombings in London]," Corbett said. "But as the criminal investigation proceeds, it will certainly become more difficult for the terrorists to carry out their activities."
The three suspects appear to have come from a moderately affluent sect of British society. They reportedly rode in a rental car to London, toting military style backpacks. The fourth bomber remains unidentified, but is believed to be from the Luton area northwest of London.
Below are profiles of the bombers from Sky News:
Photo: Shehzad Tanweer
Born on Dec. 15, 1982, at St Luke's Maternity Hospital in Bradford, he lived all his life in the Beeston area of Leeds. His father, Mohammed Mumtaz Tanweer, was born in Pakistan and owns a fish and chip shop near their home on Colwyn Road. The family also owns a butcher shop specializing in halal foods for orthodox Muslims.
Neighbors described the 22-year-old Tanweer to local reporters as a "good Muslim" who lived with his parents, younger brother and two sisters in a semi-detached white house. He reportedly attended Wortley High School before attending Leeds Metropolitan University. The sports science graduate was said to have loved cricket.
Tanweer reportedly traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan within the last six months. Sources said there was "strong" forensic evidence linking him to the blast on the Underground train near Aldgate Station.
Hasib Mir Hussain
Hussain's disappearance on the day of the attacks provided one of the vital clues that led police to Leeds yesterday. The 19-year-old was reported missing by his mother at 10.20 p.m. on Thursday after failing to return home from London.
He had told his parents that he was going to the capital on the day of the bombings with friends. Hussain lived with his parents in the Leeds suburb of Holbeck, where a three-story red-bricked terrace house in Colenso Mount was searched.
Hussain is described as one of four children born to factory-worker parents who both emigrated from Pakistan. One neighbor said the family had lived in the house for more than 20 years and Hussain was born in the house. Hussain reportedly attended Matthew Murray High School and apparently became very religious two years ago after a lengthy period of adolescent troublemaking. His driver's license and cash cards were found in the mangled wreckage of the No. 30 bus, which blew up in Tavistock Square and killed 13.
Mohammed Sadique Khan
The third man to be named as a suspect came from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. Khan is also of Pakistani origin; the 30-year-old was married to a woman named Hasina and the couple had a baby girl who is thought to be about 8-months-old.
Khan, 30, originally lived in Beeston but moved to Lees Holm in Dewsbury about five months ago. Neighbors say he worked with disabled children while his wife was involved in education. His mother-in-law, Farida Patel, lives with her son, Arshad, nearby, in a house that is also believed to have been raided by police.
Authorities removed a silver Honda Accord from outside of Khan's home yesterday. The property remained clad in scaffolding and white plastic sheeting today. Documents belonging to Khan were found in the debris of the Edgware Road blast.
Britain has produced a handful of would-be bombers over the last five years but, until last Thursday, only one successfully completed a mission. That bomber was Asif Hanif, 21, from London, who walked into Mike's Bar, a blues joint on the seafront at Tel Aviv, in 2003 and blew himself up, killing two musicians and a waitress and injuring more than 40 others. His British accomplice, Omar Khan Sharif, 27, was a father of two from Derby. He went into the bar but failed to detonate his bomb and, after a scuffle, escaped. His decomposed body was found a week later floating in the sea near the bar.
Sky News contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162358,00.html