London suicide bomber video shown

DUBAI - One of four suicide bombers behind the July 7 attacks on London invoked the name of Osama bin Laden and warned in a videotape he made before his death of more attacks unless "atrocities" against Muslims stopped.

Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, said in English in a tape aired on Al Jazeera on Thursday he and thousands of others were committed to defending Islam against violence by "democratically elected governments".

It was not clear how long before his death the tape had been made, or where.

"Until we feel secure you will be our targets. Until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture ... we will not stop this fight. We are at war and I am a soldier," he said.

At least two groups linked to al Qaeda have already claimed responsibility for the July 7 suicide bombings on London's transport system which killed 52 people.

Khan, along with two other young British Muslims of Pakistani origin and a fourth Jamaican-born Briton blew themselves up on three underground trains and a bus in London.

Police believe Khan was the leader of the group. He and another of the bombers Shehzad Tanweer, travelled to Pakistan between November and February.

Neither British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street office nor the Foreign Office commented on the tape.

But David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary (interior minister) of the main opposition Conservative Party, said in a statement: "Nothing can justify the murder of innocent people. People across Britain will be sickened by this video."

Khan's tape appeared on al Jazeera shortly before the network aired a tape by bin Laden's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in which Zawahri praised the London bombings. The Zawahri tape appeared to be an extract from a videotape already partly aired by Al Jazeera on August 4.

Khan did not claim responsibility for the July 7 attack in the name of al Qaeda but he called bin Laden, Zawahri, and al Qaeda in Iraq leader Musab al-Zarqawi as "today's heroes" and hailed "martyrs" who had given their lives in defence of Islam.

The Arabic television channel showed Khan wearing a turban, talking directly to the camera, seemingly relaxed and speaking in a heavy accent of Yorkshire in northern England, where he had lived.

"Words have no impact on you, therefore we will talk to you in a language you understand. .. I and thousands like have foresaken everything for what we believe," he said.

London's police chief Ian Blair said the bombings bore all the hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation as it was a multiple co-ordinated attack on a city's transport system.

Detectives said they expected to find some link to al Qaeda or a group connected to bin Laden's network.

But security sources have told Reuters that they had not found any evidence to back up claims an al Qaeda mastermind was behind the attack and said they were not looking for a "Mr Big".

- REUTERS