London – One of the men charged with a failed 2005 plan to bomb London’s public transport system denied that he conspired with suicide bombers who killed 52 bus and subway passengers two weeks earlier, according to testimony released Friday.
Defendant Muktar Said Ibrahim made the assertion Thursday in response to questioning by Stephen Kamlish, an attorney for one of his co-defendants, Manfu Asiedu. But the exchange could only be reported Friday when a court-imposed reporting restriction was lifted.
Ibrahim, Asiedu and four others are charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life in the plot to bomb the transit system on July 21, 2005. No one was hurt, and all the suspects have denied the charges against them.
On July 7, four suicide bombers launched lethal attacks on three subways and a bus. Police have always refused to speculate on whether there was a link between the two plots.
“Has there been any discussion between you and them (the July 7 bombers) on how to make effective bombs to start a bombing campaign in this country, the first of which was 7/7, the second of which was going to be 21/7?” Kamlish asked Ibrahim in court Thursday.
“No,” he replied.
Ibrahim – who has acknowledged being the “emir,” or leader, of the six suspects – has admitted making backpack bombs from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and flour but says he deliberately built them so they would not explode.
He claims the July 21 attacks were a hoax intended to protest Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war.
