Scourge of suicide bombers hits British shores

THE deadly scourge of suicide bombers has long been a fact of life in the violent cauldron of the Middle East — but until now it has never struck Britain.

It appears that at least one of last Thursday’s blasts was the work of a fanatic willing to face certain death in pursuit of a bloody cause.

It is the first time such an attack has taken place on British shores.

Detectives are trying to establish if all four men linked to the bombings were all killed by the blasts.

For the security services, it is almost impossible to defend against the kind of person willing to face certain death on behalf of a cause.

Britain’s first suicide bomber was 21-year-old Londoner Asif Hanif, a former public schoolboy who blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv bar in April 2003, killing three and injuring 60.

His accomplice Omar Khan Sharif, 27, from Derby, tried to detonate a bomb that failed to explode and his body was found in the sea several days later.

In another case, would-be suicide bomber Saajid Badat told the Old Bailey he thought he would find “paradise.” He was jailed for 13 years after he admitted plotting with Richard Reid to explode a shoe bomb on a transatlantic flight in December, 2001.

Last March, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said it would be “miraculous” if terrorists did not hit Britain.

“Given that some are prepared to give their own lives, it would be inconceivable that someone does not get through to London,” he said.

If, as may be the case, the London attacks were the work of one or more suicide bombers, it seems his fears have been proved right.