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| Britain |
| Martyrdom videos claim bombings would avenge US-UK role in Iraq |
| 2008-04-05 |
| British Muslims who hoped to murder about 1,500 people in co-ordinated bomb attacks on trans-Atlantic airliners claimed, in martyrdom videos, that their plot would be revenge for United States and British military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, a prosecutor said on Friday. Prosecutor Peter Wright told jurors at a London court trial that at least six members of the gang videotaped messages, some praising Al Qaeda’s founder, Osama Bin Laden. The eight accused planned to strike at least seven specific jetliners bound for the US and Canada — targeting flights to major cities such as New York, Washington and Toronto in the plot, Wright said.. About 1,500: Prosecutors calculated that about 1,500 people onboard the passenger jets — and potentially scores more on the ground if the planes exploded over cities — could have been killed if the attacks had been carried out.t. Wright said that, on videotapes, the men attempted to justify their attacks, believing the footage would be discovered following their simultaneous suicide missions. A jury was shown clips of several tapes in which the men each sat alone in front of a black flag inscribed with a message in Arabic. In one, Umar Islam, 29, angrily wagged a finger at the camera as he spoke, denouncing the US and UK for their military role in Iraq, Afghanistan and the occupied Palestinian territories. “This is revenge for the actions of the US in the Muslim lands and their accomplices — the British and the Jews,” Islam said. “I say to the non-believers, as you bomb, you will be bombed. As you kill, you will be killed,” he said, referring to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.. Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, before the same backdrop, said Bin Laden had warned the West to expect carnage. “Now the time has come for you to be destroyed,” he said. Ali claimed suicide operations would scatter the body parts of non-believers on the streets of Western cities. Islam lambasted the British public, saying it deserved to suffer because it cared more about sports and television soap operas than the plight of Muslims. Wright, who played brief clips of the tapes on Friday, said the messages left little room for ambiguity. He told the jury on Thursday that the group had expressed hopes of recruiting as many as 18 suicide bombers. Seven specific United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada flights from London’s Heathrow Airport to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Toronto and Montreal had been singled out for attack, he said. Though no specific date had been selected for the attack, research conducted by the cell indicated the group planned to strike in a single afternoon in late 2006, Wright said. He said the plotters planned to smuggle hydrogen peroxide-based explosives on board, injecting the mix into bottles of soda. A hollowed out camera battery would have hidden a detonator. The bombs could easily have been assembled in an airliner toilet, Wright said. All eight men, each of whom has ties to Pakistan, deny charges of conspiracy to murder and a charge of planning an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft. Both offences carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment. In addition to Islam, Waheed Khan and Ali, the defendants are Assad Sarwar, 27; Tanvir Hussain, 27; Mohammed Gulzar, 26; Ibrahim Savant, 27; and Waheed Zaman, 23. |
| Posted by:Fred |