Jury views ‘would-be suicide bombers’ blast attempts

THE dramatic moments when four would-be suicide bombers tried and failed to detonate their home-made rucksack bombs on three Tube trains and a bus were described in court yesterday.

One was blown into the air, one was knocked to the floor while another sent passengers recoiling in fear as, in each case, the detonator fired but the main charge failed to explode.

Their alleged attempts to detonate the bombs on July 21, 2005, caused panic on the London transport system just two weeks after the July 7 terror attacks.

One of the would-be Tube bombers was caught on CCTV trying to set off his device in front of a mother and her child, the court heard.

One injured his leg jumping from a Tube track into a garden while one castigated a Muslim woman for not taking him in as he tried to flee. He had vaulted the gate at Warren Street station to get away, the court heard.

In each case, they dumped their alleged bombs where they were supposed to have caused death and carnage, the prosecution said.

The rucksacks and plastic containers holding the bombs had split open, leaving the foam-like explosive mixture of hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour oozing out onto the floor.

The four men; Ramzi Mohammed, Hussain Osman, Yassin Omar and Muktar Said Ibrahim are standing trial along with two others, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu and Adel Yahya, at Woolwich Crown Court.

The six African Muslims deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Asiedu was alleged to have been the fifth bomber but lost his nerve. Yahya had left the country six weeks prior to the attempted attacks.

The most dramatic moment of the second day of their trial came when the jury was played CCTV images of the moment Mohammed tried to set off his bomb on a train between Stockwell and Oval.

The pictures showed the 25-year-old boarding a busy Tube with his rucksack, and turning with his back towards a mother with her child, before activating the detonator. Panic ensued as passengers tried to flee.

At one point, Mohammed dropped the rucksack and pointed at it repeatedly.

“He placed the rucksack on the floor of the carriage, no doubt the best he could do, being surprised to find himself alive,” said prosecution counsel Nigel Sweeney QC.

The bombers had chosen lunchtime for their attack to avoid “enhanced security” in place at rush hour in the wake of the 7/7 bombings, the court was told.