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3 convicted of terrorism in London bomb plot

LONDON - Three men accused of plotting what would have been the biggest terrorist attack in Britain since the 2005 London transit bombings were found guilty on terrorism charges Thursday.

    by By Henry Chu, LOS ANGELES TIMES, McClatchy-Tribune
    Published 

LONDON - Three men accused of plotting what would have been the biggest terrorist attack in Britain since the 2005 London transit bombings were found guilty on terrorism charges Thursday.

The trio, British Muslims from the city of Birmingham, were accused of planning to set off up to eight bombs in backpacks in crowded places as part of a suicide rampage. Although no date or target was set for the attack, authorities who secretly recorded conversations between the men arrested them in September 2011 out of concern that they posed an imminent threat.

A search of their apartment turned up components for making bombs and instructions on how to build one, and at least two of the men, inspired by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, had gone to Pakistan for training in Islamic terrorist camps, authorities said.

The defendants - Ashik Ali, 27; Irfan Khalid, 27; and Irfan Naseer, 31 - were recorded discussing the potential use of assault rifles and poison and putting blades on the sides of cars to mow down pedestrians. They expressed hope that their casualty count would eclipse that of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings of subway trains and a bus in central London, which killed 52 passengers.

"They were looking to kill and maim lots and lots of people. They were out to cause some really serious harm," Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale of the West Midlands Police said. "From their own words, they were quite critical of the 7/7 bombers, the fact that they didn't kill enough people. They wanted this to be their 9/11."

The three men face life in prison when their sentences are handed down in April or May.

Prosecutors identified Naseer as the group's leader and said he recruited other young men, several of whom have already been convicted on terrorism offenses.

"Irfan was very open about his support for jihadists in Afghanistan," one of Naseer's former friends told the BBC. "He was very open about his approval and admiration for the Taliban. Even within the extremist fold, he was extreme."