Suicide bomb suspect 'stormed out of mosque'

Suspected suicide bomber Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly "stormed out" of the Luton mosque he attended after he was challenged over "alien" and "extremist" views, the chairman said.

Qadeer Baksh, chairman of the Luton Islamic Centre, said today he tried to reason with al-Abdaly but to no avail.

He said: "It was the general public, worshippers, that brought it to the committee's attention that there was someone in here teaching something that is alien to Islam - extremist views.

"So I went and I faced him. I challenged his thoughts and his ideas and we got into a theological debate.

"This continued for a few days but every time I left him, I believed that he was now content with my interpretation, my explanation, and that he was misguided."

Mr Baksh said he went away, only to hear later from the community that al-Abdaly had been trying to spread more extremist views among them.

He described how he confronted him: "I went to him and I said: 'What is it this time?'. And he came with a different doubt. So I rebutted that, and I thought he was fine.

"I felt he was playing a game with me, just so he gets access to these worshippers.

"So, basically, I confronted him in front of the whole community and I brought up every single one of the doubts that he had been spreading and that he was debating with me.

"I dissected his view, refuted with theological arguments that are correct from the Koran.

"He took a dislike to that. He got very upset. He just got up and he stormed out and we never heard from him again after that."

But Mr Baksh said the alleged bomber was a "very bubbly character", kind and gentle, and people liked him.

He said: "The community did not know that he would take it so far as to then sew the seeds of discord and extremism."