Tube bomb accused ‘said he’d been trained to kill by Islamic State in Iraq’
AN IRAQI asylum seeker accused of planting a “bucket bomb” that exploded on a Tube train had previously told immigration officials that he had been “trained to kill” by Islamic State jihadists, a court was told.
Ahmed Hassan, 18, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday for the first day of his trial where he was accused of putting the home-made device in a packed carriage.
The bomb partially exploded at Parsons Green station in west London sending shards of glass flying through the air and engulfing passengers in flames.
Only the failure of the device to detonate fully spared the lives of the 93 people in the carriage on September 15 last year.
The jury was yesterday told how Hassan had sneaked into Britain in the back of a lorry after falling into the clutches of IS in his native Iraq.
Quizzed by immigration officials at his asylum interview, he told them that while he was with the terrorist group: “They trained us how to kill. It was all religious-based.”
Shrapnel
Hassan said he spent up to four hours at a mosque and shared training with 1,000 others, some of them children. He fled to Britain because he was afraid of the terrorists, the jury was told.
The court also heard that while in the care of Barnardo’s charity, he was caught listening to an Islamic “call to arms” song with lyrics along the lines of: “We are coming with you to the slaughter... in your home/country”.
He was also seen watching a video on his mobile phone showing people in a truck wearing balaclavas, holding machine guns and waving the IS flag.
CCTV footage played to the jury showed the moment the device exploded sending bright yellow flames roaring through the carriage.
But the improvised bomb, packed inside a white bucket and stuffed with knives, screwdrivers and other deadly shrapnel, failed to detonate fully, the court heard.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the trial how victims suffered horrific burns.
Passengers rushed away from the blast with their clothes and hair on fire, the Old Bailey heard.
Miss Morgan said: “The partial explosion caused a large fireball. Some in the carriage were caught by the flames and suffered significant burns. Many ran in fear and panic. They were fortunate.
“Had the device fully detonated, it is inevitable that serious injury and significant damage would have been caused within the carriage. Those in close proximity to the device may well have been killed.”
Hassan, a student from Sunbury, west London, denies attempted murder and causing an explosion.
He had allegedly assembled the device at the home he shared with his foster parents after buying ingredients to make the volatile explosive mix known as triacetone triperoxide – TATP, the court heard.
Using a £20 Amazon voucher he won for being student of the year at Brooklands College in Surrey where he studied photography, Hassan bought five litres of hydrogen peroxide and a quantity of sulphuric acid, the jury was told.
A bottle of nail varnish remover provided the third ingredient, acetone, the court heard. He improvised a detonator with an Asda digital kitchen timer, batteries and a light bulb filled with match heads, it was alleged.
His bomb-making research may have been done using a laptop computer given to him by social workers, but police could not be sure as the memory had been wiped clean, Miss Morgan said.
CCTV caught Hassan carrying the bomb in a Lidl bag from his home to Sunbury railway station, jurors were told.
The trial continues.