Bomb suspect motivated by Iraq war, not religion

Osman Hussain

ROME - The suspected member of the July 21 bombings cell caught in Italy has said he was motivated by the Iraq war, not religion.

Osman Hussain, who is suspected of trying to blow up commuters in Shepherd's Bush, west London, gave an extraordinary account of a plot hatched in a basement gym in Notting Hill, according to leaks from his interrogation by Italian investigating magistrates.

The would-be bomber is reported to have denied links to the cell that killed 52 people two weeks earlier.

But that outrage acted as a "signal" for the second gang to launch its own terrorist attack.

The 27-year-old Ethiopian-born Briton, also known as Isaac Hamdi, was questioned by two judges after being arrested in Rome on Friday.

He was said to have offered no resistence when he was captured.

"Rather than praying, we had discussions about work, politics, the war in Iraq," Hussain said of the gatherings in the gym, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

The would-be bombers watched films, "especially those in which you saw women and children killed and exterminated by the English and American soldiers, or widows, mothers and daughters who were crying".

Propaganda helped to foster the group's "political conviction that it is necessary to give a signal, to do something", he was quoted as saying.

"We never had contacts with the bin Laden organisation. We knew that they existed. We had access to their platforms through the internet, but nothing direct."

He told investigators the cell was surprised by the July 7 bombs. "We have no link with the Pakistanis," he said. But his group took the carnage as a signal that it should also act.

In another report, from the Ansa Italian news agency, Hussain said: "We had to do something. We had to react to the climate of hatred and hostility that was created after the July 7 bombs. We were not supposed to kill anyone. That bomb would not have been able to cause victims."

Hussain said his gang used fertilisers and acid to make explosives, some of which leaked out and injured his leg.

The Italian Interior Ministry confirmed that the quotes from Hussain were authentic but declined to comment on the source of the leaks. The suspect was interrogated in Rome's Regina Coeli prison by Judges Franco Ionta and Pietro Saviotti.

It was not clear that Britain's request for the suspect to be extradited would be granted.

Rome's Court of Appeal may rule he should remain in Italy as part of an investigation into the killing of an Italian citizen in the July 7 bombings.

If extradited, Hussain will join four other suspects being questioned at Paddington Green police station, three of who have been named as Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yasin Hassan Omar.

- INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY