JERUSALEM - One of the suspected bombers in the London attacks visited Israel for one day in 2003, an Israeli official said on Monday, bolstering a news report the British-born Muslim helped plan a Tel Aviv suicide bombing. The government official said Mohammad Sidique Khan, who London police believe blew himself up on an underground train this month, arrived in Israel on Feb. 19, 2003, and left the next day.
The official declined to speculate on reasons for the visit.
Israeli daily Maariv said on Sunday that Khan was suspected of helping plan a pro-Palestinian suicide bombing by two fellow Britons of Pakistani descent on April 30, 2003. Three Israelis were killed in the attack on Mikeâs Place bar in Tel Aviv. But Israeli security sources played down the report, which cited no evidence. âThis is not a concrete finding,â a source said on Sunday. British police named Khan as a member of an Al Qaeda-style cell that killed 55 people in the July 7 bombings in London. Pakistani immigration officials told Reuters on Monday that Khan, 31, and two other cell members visited Karachi last year. One of the suspects, Shehzad Tanweer, visited madrasas, or Muslim religious schools, in Pakistan, the sources said.
Israeli officials are under orders from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to link the London attacks and Palestinian militants. After Al Qaedaâs Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Sharon was quick to draw parallels to Israelâs own struggle against Islamic militants who have spearheaded a Palestinian uprising since 2000. Hamas, an Islamic movement sworn to Israelâs destruction, issued a joint claim of responsibility for Mikeâs Place bar along with al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of the dominant Palestinian political faction Fatah. Asaf Hanif, a Briton of Pakistani descent, blew himself up at the bar, but his comrade Omar Sharif fled after apparently failing to detonate his bomb. Sharifâs body was found in the sea a week later. Investigators concluded he had drowned. | Well, having your head held underwater will do that. |
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