MI5 admits: we let suicide bombers slip through net

Britain's security service knew that the two Britons who carried out last week's suicide bombing in Israel had links to Islamic extremists but decided that they were not potential terrorists, The Telegraph has learned.

MI5 officers investigating Islamic terrorism identified Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif as they investigated the hard-line al-Muhajiroun movement but did not place them under constant surveillance after judging that they were on the fringes of the group.

Last week Hanif, 21, killed himself and three Iraelis when he detonated an explosive belt at a bar in Tel Aviv. Police are hunting Sharif, 27, who fled when his explosive-packed vest failed to detonate. The revelation that MI5 was aware that Hanif and Sharif had links to extremist groups will raise questions about whether the attack could have been prevented. It is not known whether their movements were tracked as they made a series of trips to countries such as Syria, or whether their identities were passed to intelligence agencies in Israel or America.

Last night police disclosed that six people arrested under anti-terrorism laws yesterday and on Friday were family members or close friends of Sharif. They were named as Tahira, his wife, his sisters Parveen and Nasreen, his brother Zahid Hussein Sharif, Tahira's brother Amar Jazira, and Zahid Ahmed, a family friend.

As the police investigations continued, another friend of Sharif pledged that he would also become a suicide bomber, and said that he expected similar attacks in Britain. Shakil Mohammed, 31, who grew up in the same neighbourhood of Derby as Sharif and met him in March, said: "I would volunteer: more and more people will follow him."

Mohammed and his wife, an Englishwoman who has converted to Islam, have three children. "To be a martyr in our religion is a great honour," he said. "It's only a matter of time before somebody blows themselves up in this country - that will definitely happen. I'm somebody who really believes in this, but the picture is bigger than me. We are going to make a change."

Senior detectives yesterday claimed that Sharif was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group that attempts to unite all Islamic states under a single regime and is banned in a number of countries. Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose name means Liberation Party, is outlawed in Egypt and also Germany this year because of its anti-Israel message.

Founded in 1953 with the aim of bringing all Muslims under a single caliphate, it is known to be on a recruitment drive in British universities. Last night a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir denied that Sahrif was a member.

MI5 officers told The Telegraph that the security service knew for several years that Sharif had attended meetings of al-Muhajiroun, which advocates the overthrow of Western democracies, in his home town of Derby, where the group's branch has strong support. Hanif attended meetings of the group at the Hounslow Masjid in west London, where he lived with his family.

MI5 also knew that Sharif was connected to the Finsbury Park Mosque, where Abu Hamza, the radical cleric, preached until recently. [1] Others who are known to have attended the mosque include the al-Qa'eda members Richard Reid, the shoebomber who tried to blow up a transatlantic aircraft in mid-flight, and Zacharias Moussaoui, the man accused of being the "20th hijacker" in the September 11 attacks.

Sheikh Omar Bakri, the spiritual leader of al-Muhajiroun in Britain, has admitted knowing both men but said that he had given them "religious instruction" only and denied recruiting them for terrorism. [2] He said that "suicide bombers would be welcomed in heaven" and added: "Muslims cannot condemn the actions of a freedom fighter who is fighting to liberate his homeland from its occupiers."

Evidence gathered during the MI5 investigation in which Sharif's name came to officers' attention led to the arrest in March of eight men in Derby for terrorism offences. They were released and the security service found no evidence that Sharif or Hanif were involved in terrorist activities.

Last night the Israeli authorities said that they were co-operating with MI5 over information that the two British bombers might have been trained by al-Qa'eda. A spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry said that there were "serious leads" which suggested that Hanif and Sharif had been trained at camps in Syria either by supporters of al-Qa'eda or Hizbollah, the Palestinian guerrilla group. Information from British intelligence officers, with whom there was "good co-operation", was being used to assist the investigation.

"The international connection is something very important which we are investigating very seriously," said the spokesman. "We are looking at whether Hizbollah trained them and whether al-Qa'eda might have been involved. We are looking at whether they were trained in camps in Syria. Nothing is for sure, but these are leads that we are taking very seriously."

Suspicions that the Britons were assisted by other terrorists have been raised by the manner of their attack. They are believed to have entered Israel separately about a month ago. Hanif is believed to have studied at Damascus University and it is thought that he and Sharif met in the Syrian capital and travelled to the Gaza Strip, where they spent several days, apparently posing as peace activists.

They acted as "human shields" for Palestinians before returning to Tel Aviv via the heavily-guarded Erev border post. Israeli security officials believe they then met accomplices who armed them.

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NOTES:

[1] Abu Hamza Al Masri "lost both hands and an eye during the CIA-supported war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s."

He is wanted in the US for plotting with James Ujaama to set up a Sakina Security Al Qaeda training camp in Bly, Oregon. U.S. Man in Al Qaeda Case Admits to Conspiracy Yemen has also requested his extradition to face terrorism charges. However,"IT MAY be ten years before proceedings are completed to remove the militant Muslim cleric Sheikh Abu Hamza from Britain." Fight to deport cleric could last ten years

[2] World Tribune -- July 9, 2000 "Omar Bakri, head of the London-based Muhajiroun organization and regarded as a spokesman for Bin Laden, said Islamic fundamentalists have been training to help defend Muslims in Bosnia, Chechnya and Kosovo. 'Attacks on Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya, and elsewhere in Western countries have prompted the fundamentalist movement to think of recruiting and preparing Muslims youths and sending them to the United States for military training in special camps set up in Virginia, Missouri's desert, and Michigan,' Bakri said."