Mosque that gave birth to the British ‘Beatles’ Isil terror cell
Trio of extremists met up at Muslim centre opened by Prince of Wales and radicalised others
WHEN the Prince of Wales opened Al Manaar mosque in west London more than a decade ago, it promised to be a religious hub open to the entire community.
But yesterday Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre was identified as the likely meeting point for at least two young extremists who would go on to become part of the brutal terror cell of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) known as the “Beatles”.
The mosque and surrounding area were reported meeting points for local resident Mohammed Emwazi, who would become known as “Jihadi John”, and Allexanda Kotey, a Queens Park Rangers fan who grew up just two miles away. Friends said Kotey, unmasked yesterday as the man likely to be the “Ringo” of the group, even advocated suicide bombing from a street stall outside the mosque.
The trio grew up in the sprawling housing estates of west London in the shadow of homes owned by oligarchs, celebrities and David Cameron.
The mosque was built for the area’s sizeable Muslim community and opened by the Prince of Wales in 2001, but there have been repeated reports of a significant proportion of young extremists worshipping there.
At least nine jihadists, including Emwazi and the failed 21/7 bombers, were radicalised in the area, including the “hip hop jihadist” Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, whose father was said by US authorities to be a former associate of Osama Bin Laden.
He was seen on Twitter holding a severed head in Syria, with the words “Chillin’ with my other homie, or what’s left of him”. Before he set off for Syria, he – like Kotey and Emwazi – was said to pray regularly at Al Manaar. Last night, Saleha Islam, the director Al Manaar mosque, told ITV News: “We are aware that certain people have joined Isil who live in the area of Ladbroke Grove; we have always condemned the actions of these extremists and will continue to do so.
“Al Manaar is a centre where we have up to 3,000 people attending every week. It is not a membership club and anyone can come and pray. The suggestion that the mosque has radicalised young men shows how ignorant people are of Islam and how mosques work.
“Mosques are not like churches that cater for parishioners, instead it is a place for worship where people come to pray. What sort of ideas they have in their minds is something that we do not know of and we cannot control.”
Kotey, like Emwazi, is also connected to the “London Boys”, a network of extremists who exchanged essays on radical Islam after sessions of five-aside football.
After converting to Islam, Kotey rose through the ranks and was described by one associate as a key recruiter for Isil in London.
According to an investigation by ITV News, he played a hand in influencing several fellow London men to join the terror group. Among them was Hamza Parvez, known as Abu Hamza al-Britani.
He was also said to have played a role in recruiting brothers Flamur and Fatlam Shakalu. Fatlam, 20, known as Abu Musa al-Britani, became a suicide bomber who blew himself up last May in Ramadim while Flamur, 23, was killed fighting in March.
Also part of Kotey’s circle of associates were London fighters Mohammed Nasser, killed by shrapnel while fighting for Isil in 2014, and engineering student Mohammed el-Araj, 23, who died in Syria the previous year.
The Ladbroke Grove terror connection stretches back to the failed July 21 bombing of 2005; two of that group were arrested during police raids in Notting Hill and north Kensington. An- other of their number, Ibrahim Magag, is on the run, having removed his electronic tag and vanished in a black cab near Euston Station.
Yesterday it also emerged that Aine Lesley Davis, who was born in Hammersmith, is believed to be the third “Beatle” described by the hostages who coined the nickname. The fourth – unidentified – member is now strongly suspected to be from a nearby neighbourhood.
The “Beatles” cell gained a reputation as the cruellest of all Isil guards, using electric shocks, waterboarding, and mock executions, including a staged crucifixion, to terrorise their hostages.
They have beheaded seven British, American and Japanese hostages and 18 members of the Syrian army.
A Danish hostage, Daniel Rye, who was released in June 2014, recalled in a memoir how “Ringo” had kicked him 25 times in his ribs on his 25th birthday, telling him it was a gift.
Rye wrote that “George” dominated the group of jailers and was the most violent.
Rye also recalled being taken to an open grave where a suspected spy was shot by Emwazi on “George”’s instructions while “Ringo” filmed. Rye said the Britons forced him and other hostages to climb into the grave and photographed them.
‘The ‘Beatles’ cell gained a reputation as the cruellest of all Isil guards’