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Doctors plotted "wholesale murder" in UK: prosecutor
Two doctors went on trial on Thursday accused of being part of an Islamist cell trying to murder people "wholesale" by carrying out car bomb attacks in central London and at a packed Scottish airport last year.Iraqi Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Jordanian Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small group that tried to set off bombs outside a busy London nightclub and, when that failed, rammed a car into Glasgow Airport terminal in a dramatic suicide attack, the prosecution said. The men wanted to punish the British people for their country's perceived persecution of Palestinian Muslims and those in Afghanistan and Iraq, the court in east London heard. "These men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the top security Woolwich Crown Court. "Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing about this case is that both these defendants are doctors," he said. "They turned their attention away from the treatment of illness to the planning of murder." Their plans failed only because, by a mixture of good luck and technical mistakes, the devices did not explode, he said. The first in a series of "spectaculars" was planned for central London, Laidlaw said. Two cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails were driven down from Scotland and, early on June 29, 2007, left in the busy West End area of the capital. One was parked outside Tiger Tiger, a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus packed with more than 500 revelers, and the second nearby. This was a "secondary device" to catch those fleeing from the first explosion at the club, Laidlaw suggested. Despite repeated attempts to set off the mobile phone detonators in the cars, neither vehicle exploded. The bombers then dramatically changed their plans, aware that the police and security services would quickly trace them through clues left in the cars, the prosecution said. "... the next attack was to be a suicide attack. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the devices in London," said Laidlaw. "... the ultimate purpose...remained to kill and maim." The next day, the bombers drove to Scotland. A vehicle packed with fuel containers and gas canisters was driven at speed into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport on its busiest day of the year. The vehicle became stuck in the terminal doors and despite attempts to detonate it with petrol bombs, it failed to explode. Driver Kafeel Ahmed, 28, died from his burns, while Abdulla who was in the passenger seat survived. Laidlaw said Abdulla was a central figure in the plot while Asha, who was in neither London nor Glasgow, was an important member of the cell. Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The trial is due to last three months. Posted by: ed 2008-10-09 |
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