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UK links with Iraqi-Swede bomber investigated

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Dec 13, IRNA -- Britain's security services are investigating UK connections with the Iraqi-Swede, who carried out the suicide bombing attack in Stockholm over the weekend.

Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who has been identified as the bomber, obtained a BSc in sports therapy from the University of Bedfordshire, north of London in 2004 and his family is still living in Luton, it was reported Monday.

Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was arrested in the US for attempting to blow up a plane en route to Detroit last December, was also investigated by British police after previously studying at University College London.

British press reports Monday said that Metropolitan police officers have searched a property in Bedfordshire under the Terrorism Act 2000 and that neighbours had seen the Iraqi-born Swede in recent weeks.

'I used to see him around often. He didn't say much but seemed nice. I used to see him walking with his kids.” Tahir Hussain, a 33 year old taxi driver who lives nearby, told the Daily Telegraph: He said he was “shocked” and never thought he could do such a thing.

Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, said that the bomber had travelled to Britain and Jordan ahead of Saturday's attack, in which he was the only victim.

The vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University, Les Ebdon, said he would be urgently checking the registration records to verify whether Abdaly had attended.

'We have a harmonious campus and we haven't had any cases of terrorist or radical activities on campus since I've been vice-chancellor, around seven years,” Edbdon told the Guardian.

The university was wrongly linked to one of the 7/7 bombers, who carried out attacks on London transport system in 2005, and resulted in public apologies from one newspaper.

An independent at UCL, published in October, also found that Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to blow up a transatlantic airliner, was not radicalised while he was a student at the university.

The inquiry, set up by the governing body, found no evidence that he adopted extremist views while studying engineering, including when he was president of UCL's Islamic Society (ISoc) in his second year.

There was also no evidence to suggest “that conditions at UCL during that time or subsequently are conducive to the radicalisation of students.”

Many Muslim organisations have frequently criticised the British government’s refusal to consider any political motives behind terrorist attacks, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.