 Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri said two London bombers received training in Qaeda camps, according to a video posted on the Internet on Friday. Exactly one year ago, four suicide bombers attacked the London transport system, killing 52 people. Zawahri identified Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan as receiving training in Qaeda camps, saying Tanweer was motivated by “repression the British are perpetrating in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine”.
Video: 2 London Bombers al-Qaida Trained
Two of the four suicide bombers who attacked London a year ago had spent time at an al-Qaida camp to prepare themselves for a suicide attack, the deputy leader of al-Qaida claimed in new video excerpts released Friday. Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said that Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan had come to a base of al-Qaida.
| That'd be when they went... ummm... somewhere. |
It was known that the two Muslims from north England had visited Pakistan, but al-Zawahri's comment was the first claim that they had actually visited al-Qaida camps.
| Oh, yes. That is where they went, isn't it? |
"Both of them were seeking martyrdom and wished that they could carry out a martyrdom operation," al-Zawahri said, using the Islamic euphemism for a suicide attack. It was not possible to independently verify the claim, part of a video that was posted on the Internet on the first anniversary of the July 7, 2005, bombings that killed 52 people and the four bombers. Other portions of the video, broadcast Thursday by Al-Jazeera TV, showed Tanweer warning that the attacks were only the beginning of a campaign of terror. "This tape is very interesting from the standpoint that the Metropolitan police said they had no evidence linking the bombers to al-Qaida," said Bob Ayers, a security and intelligence expert at the Chatham House think tank in London.
"The coordinated timing of the tape shows these guys did not act independently and were at a minimum supported by al-Qaida if not recruited, trained and supported by them."
| I'd call going to a Qaeda camp being trained and supported, even if they recruited themselves. |
"It makes the police look pretty bad," Ayers said. "It means the investigation was either wrong, or they had identified links, but were reluctant to reveal them."
London bombers were not trained in Pakistan: Durrani
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday denied any of the London transit system bombers received training or support during visits to the country, including the suicide bomber who appeared in a recently aired video warning of further attacks.
Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said there has been no connection proven between Pakistan and the July 7, 2005, bombings that killed 52 people and four bombers, including three British Muslims of Pakistani origin. “Let me tell you with full confidence that there is no evidence that any suicide bomber had received training or any other support from militants in Pakistan,” Durrani told The Associated Press.
| At that point he could say no more, since his lips fell off. |
DurraniÂ’s comments came a day after Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired a video showing one of the suicide bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, warning of further attacks. The tape also included a still image of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was paraphrased praising the London bombers.
| Really, they don't feel shame like we do. |
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