Tube bomb suspect ‘trained to kill by Isil’
Iraqi asylum seeker, 18, planted makeshift device on train and got out before it exploded, trial hears
Ahmed Hassan, an 18-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker who is accused of the Parsons Green Tube bombing on Sept 15, told immigration officials he was “trained to kill” by Islamic jihadists, The Old Bailey heard yesterday. He assembled the deadly device using materials he bought on Amazon and left it in a Lidl bag on a carriage, the court heard. He left the train before the bomb partially exploded, creating a large fireball that burnt some of the 93 passengers on board.
THE teenager accused of planting the Parsons Green Tube bomb told immigration officials he was “trained on how to kill” by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a court has heard.
Ahmed Hassan, an Iraqi, came to Britain illegally in the back of lorry in 2015 and claimed asylum, saying he had been forced to join Isil after the extremists threatened to kill members of his family.
The 18-year-old was allowed to enter the country and was put in a Barnardo’s home.
He later allegedly used a £20 gift voucher won for being Student of the Year to purchase hydrogen peroxide for the explosives, the opening of his trial heard.
Interviewed at an immigration centre in Croydon in January 2016, Mr Hassan said: “They trained us how to kill. It was all religious-based.”
He said he had trained alongside around 1,000 other fighters in Iraq and would spend three or four hours a day in the mosque.
But he told officials he had escaped Isil when the Iraqi army overran them, and denied having been sent to Europe to work for the Islamist group.
The teenager was still having his asylum application processed when he was accused of planting a home-made bomb on a District Line carriage during the rush hour on Sept 15 last year.
The Old Bailey was told he assembled the potentially deadly device using materials he bought on Amazon.
After planting the bomb, the jury was told that the suspect then “calmly” got off the train further down the line and boarded a bus that followed the route of the Tube towards Parsons Green station.
Mr Hassan sat on the top deck of the 74 bus towards Earl’s Court and jurors were told they might want to consider whether he did this in order to see what unfolded.
Alison Morgan, prosecuting, said: “You will see all of the footage from this journey in due course... you will want to consider whether it appears that the defendant was looking out to see what might be happening to his right.”
In the event, the device only partially exploded, sending a fireball along the carriage, causing commuters to flee in “fear and panic”.
Ms Morgan told jurors: “On Friday, Sept 15, shortly before 8.20am, an improvised explosive device partially detonated on a District Line Tube train very shortly after it had arrived into Parsons Green station. It was a rushhour and the train was crowded.
“There were 93 people in the carriage when the device detonated. The partial explosion created a large fireball. Some in the carriage were caught by the flames and sustained 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.”
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the explosion. It showed a fireball engulfing the carriage, as people ducked from the flames.
The court heard how hundreds of people tried to get down the narrow staircase and out of the station following the explosion.
Mr Hassan had got off the carriage at Putney Bridge station before the bomb went off on a timer, the court heard.
Ms Morgan said the device was made from TATP (triacetone triperoxide), the volatile chemical explosive, and contained a large amount of shrapnel to cause “maximum harm and carnage”.
The 2.2kg of sockets, screws, bolts, nails, knives and screwdrivers had been put inside a white bucket, and an improvised initiator and explosives placed inside a Lidl bag.
The court was shown images and graphics of the device and how this was constructed.
Jurors heard Mr Hassan bought metal items from Asda and Aldi supermarkets the day before the bombing and that he also researched the ingredients for TATP explosives and bought sulphuric acid on Amazon.
He arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry via the Channel Tunnel in October 2015. He had no identity documents and claimed asylum, saying he was born in June 1999.
Mr Hassan, of Sunbury, Surrey, denies attempted murder and using TATP to cause an explosion that was likely to endanger life on Sept 15 last year. The trial continues.
‘Had the device fully detonated ... serious injury and significant damage would have been caused’