London – Four Muslim militants were convicted Monday of plotting to bomb London’s public transport system July 21, 2005 – an attack with deliberate echoes of suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters two weeks earlier.
The jury continued to deliberate the cases of two other defendants.
Inspired by al-Qaeda, the six were accused of taking part in a plot to detonate explosives-laden backpacks on subway trains and a bus, as in the July 7, 2005, attacks.
The bombs, made from a mix of hydrogen peroxide and flour, failed to explode, and no one was injured.
Unlike the July 7 bombers, who were British-born Muslim radicals, those in the July 21 plot came to Britain as young men from places such as Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in the war-wracked Horn of Africa. Some became British citizens, others had refugee status.
The jury unanimously found Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29; Yassin Omar, 26; and Ramzi Mohammed, 25, guilty of conspiracy to murder. Several hours later the jury convicted Hussain Osman, 28.
Judge Adrian Fulford told the jury of nine women and three men that he would accept 10-2 majority verdicts on the other two defendants, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, and Adel Yahya, 24.
All six suspects denied the charges, arguing the devices were intentional duds and their action was a protest against the Iraq war.
Police and prosecutors said scientific tests proved the bombs were all viable, although it wasn’t clear why they did not work.
The group bought 117 gallons of hydrogen peroxide – an easily available chemical.
In Omar’s north London apartment, they boiled the chemical to a concentration of 70 percent to increase its explosive potential.
Omar, Mohammed and Osman tried to set off their bombs aboard subway trains and Ibrahim’s bomb failed aboard a double-decker bus.
Asiedu allegedly lost his nerve and abandoned his device in a park.
Yahya had left Britain for Ethiopia several weeks before the attacks.
Much of the prosecution’s case was based on witness testimony and closed-circuit television video from the targeted subway cars and bus.
In some of the most chilling footage, Mohammed attempts to set off his bomb with the backpack facing a mother and child.
