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The London bombers
"He was a quiet boy, kept to himself"... Hat tip Jihad Watch
By Russell Jenkins, Dominic Kennedy, David Lister and Carol Midgley of The Times

SHEHZAD TANWEER, ALDGATE

He may have been a good-looking, sporty lad with a lean physique and fashionably dyed hair but Shehzad Tanweer had no interest in chasing girls and was happier devoting his spare time to prayers.

In the past six months the 22-year-old suicide bomber had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing him into contact with al-Qaeda trainers and propagandists. In his final months, the cricket and ju-jitsu enthusiast, nicknamed “Khaka”, was said to have turned into a quiet loner, always politely eschewing company by saying he was on his way to a mosque or a prayer meeting.

An uncle, Bashir Ahmed, 52, said he feared that the large, close, extended family would now have to leave Leeds, the city they have made home for a generation after leaving the Faisalabad area of Pakistan for a better life. Mr Ahmed, speaking outside the fish-and-chip shop run by Shehzad’s father, Mumtaz, said the young man had done a “terrible thing”. But he did not blame his nephew for the bombing, saying instead that it was the fault of “forces behind him”.

He said: “Shehzad had never been in trouble before. So what drove him to do it? It can’t be him. It must be something else behind him.

“It has come as a complete shock. He was respected by everybody and respected everybody in return. We were respected by the community — but how is the community going to treat us now?”

Shehzad never expressed an interest in politics but was a devout Muslim. Saj, a friend bearing an Arabic-script tattoo on his arm, said Shehzad “was a quiet lad, religious. He used to go to every mosque in Beeston and there are loads of mosques around here.”

Mahmood Khan, who worked in the chip shop, South Leeds Fisheries, said: “Shehzad was very religious. He used to go to the mosque a lot. He didn’t like girls. He didn’t have many friends but he was a nice, quiet person.”

Shehzad, who lived at 51 Colwyn Road, Beeston, used to volunteer to play sports with children at a local community centre.

In the period leading to his death, Shehzad and a friend left Leeds for days at a time, but nobody knew the purpose or destination of their travels.

Arif Butt, a community elder at Stratford Street mosque, said: “I feel for all the family. They are a very well-respected family. Shehzad’s father is a very well-respected businessman.”

MOHAMMAD SIDIQUE KHAN, EDGWARE ROAD

Mohammad Sidique Khan had a trusted job as a primary school teaching assistant working with children from poor and vulnerable families arriving in Britain.

Khan, 30, who ran an Islamic bookshop, was employed as a “learning mentor” in an inner-city district with a high proportion of asylum-seekers, homeless families and battered wives.

His mother-in-law, a highly respected Asian volunteer worker, was invited to Buckingham Palace to be honoured by the Queen for a lifetime of community work, particularly with women.

Khan was one of two learning mentors employed at Hillside Primary School in Beeston, which had such a high turnover that 75 per cent of pupils could change in a year. His task was to liaise with children’s previous schools on their special needs and to assess their learning skills. On their first day at school, children would rely on Khan, who was their official “buddy”. He was given the privileged position of sitting, with the head teacher, through interviews with new families to the area. Many were single mothers, fresh immigrants, refugees or victims of domestic violence.

In 2002 he gave an interview to The Times Educational Supplement about his unusual job, claiming his role helped children to settle. “A lot of them have said this is the best school they have been to,” he said.

He also gave a fascinating hint of his own smouldering political anger and dissent. As a Beeston resident, he expressed his discontent with the community’s squalor, saying he believed it would be many years before regeneration cash would transform the area.

Khan moved to a council house in Lees Holm, Thornhill, Dewsbury, six months ago and became a liaison officer in another local school. His wife, Hasini Patel, is said to have held anti-Taleban, pro-women views at odds with her husband’s version of Islam. She also worked in education as a “neighbourhood enrichment officer”. They had a baby daughter in May last year. But the pressure on their marriage was too strong and the couple were said to have separated.

They previously lived in Dewsbury, in a bungalow with his mother-in-law, Farida Patel, and members of the extended family. That home was raided by 50 police officers on Tuesday morning. As a dinner lady and sports superviser, Mrs Patel became well known and popular in Dewsbury before her retirement. She also worked as a bi-lingual teacher.

The Patels were known opponents of Muslim extremism and supporters of women’s rights. They have been devastated to learn of Khan’s role.

Khan, born in Leeds, has never been seen in the local Daulim Mosque in Dewsbury and his fanatical religious views have come as a surprise in the locality.

HASIB HUSSAIN, No. 30 BUS

The youngest suicide bomber was sent to his family’s native Pakistan after becoming a troublesome teenager. Hasib Hussain returned a disciplined, chastened young man.

Hussain 18, came from a respectable household in a back-to-back terrace. But he faced a bleak future when his school withdrew him from all GCSE examinations after he went through what was said to be a disruptive stage.

Religion inspired his change of heart. He made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as well as visiting Pakistan. Police will be trying to discover whether Hussain, who blew himself to pieces along with 12 passengers on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square, adopted his radical views at home or abroad.

Neighbours in the Leeds inner-city community of Holbeck, a poor area behind the central business district by-passed by motorways and fly-overs, were stunned yesterday by the news that he had made the transformation into a suicide bomber.

Before he visited the Middle East, Hussain lived in a close-knit world of friendly faces. He was born on September 16, 1986, into the Victorian redbrick house in Colenso Mount where his family still lives.

Yesterday the area was sealed off by armed police.

He grew up playing football with other children in the back alleys under their mothers’ gaze.

He went to the Ingram Road nursery, around the corner from his home, progressed to the primary school a few yards further away, and then the Matthew Murray high school, renamed South Leeds High School. None was more than a five-minute walk from the house of his parents, Mahmoor and Maniza.

His journey always took him past the corner shop run by Ajimal Singh, who looked drawn and saddened yesterday. “He used to come in here for sweets and pop when he was a schoolboy,” Mr Singh said. “He is from a very good local family. He has a brother who is a very nice man.”

South Leeds High School said, in a statement through Leeds Council: “He was a good attender and there is nothing unusual about his school records except he was withdrawn by the school from all of his GCSEs, except GNVQ business studies.”

Hasib used to make a seemingly unnecessary 20-mile round trip to Dewsbury to worship. Mohammad Sidique Khan, the oldest suicide bomber, had a home in the town.

Last week Hussain, who was unemployed, told relatives that he was going to London to attend a religious lecture. When he failed to return, his family, frantic with worry and in complete ignorance of his mission, contacted the police casualty bureau to report him as a missing person.

His driving licence and cash cards were found in the wreckage of the bombed-out bus. The find led police to the Leeds suicide bomb cell.
Posted by: anonymous5089 2005-07-14
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