July 21 accused admitted making devices

ONE of the alleged July 21 bombers has admitted making all the home-made devices, described in court yesterday as being as powerful as TNT or gelignite.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, is one of six men accused of hatching an extremist Muslim plot to kill commuters in a series of murderous bombings on the London transport system.

They are alleged to have tried to set off four bombs — made of hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour — which all failed.

Ibrahim’s counsel, George Carter-Stephenson QC, told Woolwich Crown Court: “The positive case is that all the devices were constructed in the same way, Mr Ibrahim being principally responsible for their construction.”

Just hours earlier, the jury heard the explosive used by the six men was so powerful it would have caused death, loss of limbs or serious internal injuries.

The alleged main charge, along with its TATP detonator, had a similar explosive strength to the “highly explosive” gelignite and TNT, according to forensic scientist Claire McGavigan.

She said the alleged bombs could have exploded at around 6km/sec, sending lethal shrapnel travelling at “hundreds of metres a second”. The expert, from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead in Kent, said the impact of the device would have been made worse by screws and tacks taped to the outside — “embedding” themselves into the skin of bystanders.

Although the alleged bombs did not explode, they caused chaos in London.

A woman in the same Tube carriage as the alleged Warren Street bomber Yassin Omar told how he flew into the air after the detonator went off but failed to trigger the main charge. The court was told how Omar then fled from Warren Street station and was spotted running up the escalator with two wires protruding from his shirt.

Evidence was given by two Muslim women whom he asked for help — both of whom refused.

The six accused are Ibrahim of Stoke Newington, north London; Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address; and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London.

They all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.