Couple planned Isil suicide bombing of Westfield or Tube, court hears

From The Telegraph

A married couple plotted an Isil suicide bombing of the London Underground or Westfield shopping centre around the tenth anniversary of the 7/7 suicide attacks, a court heard on Tuesday. 

Mohammed Rehman, 25, and his wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, had enough bomb material to “cause multiple fatalities” and were just days away from being able to carry out an attack. They had already tested explosives in a back garden and only need to make a detonator, when counter-terrorism police swooped. But they were caught after police spotted Rehman’s Twitter account, where he went under the name “Silent Bomber” and had asked followers for advice on which target to hit, the Old Bailey heard. 

Opening the prosecution, Tony Badenoch QC said the pair had a “common interest” in violent and extreme Islamic ideology and had repeatedly researched 7/7 bombers, who killed 52 people in London in 2005. They also developed a keen interest in Isil and Rehman’s online research showed he approved of their atrocities and “wished to play his own part”, jurors were told.  

The prosecutor said: “The evidence suggests that the London Underground may well have been on his mind as a potential target as he was particularly fixated with the events of 7/7 and he referred to Shehzad Tanweer, one of the 7/7 suicide bombers, as his ‘beloved predecessor’.”  

Mr Badenoch said the 10kg of Urea Nitrate found on their arrest ‘would have caused multiple fatalities in a public place.’ Rehman had enough experience to make a detonator in no more than a couple of days, it is claimed. 

In (another tweet) he wrote: “I have other plans if Insha’Allah goes to plan & I’m preparing for an Istishaadi [martyrdom] operation.”

This was followed by: “Now I just make explosives in preparations for kuffar lol & when I’ve made the required amount I’ll be wearing them on my chest.” 

Mr Badenoch added: “They were not attention-seeking boasts as the plethora of chemicals seized at the home of Mohammed Rehman demonstrate. Those chemicals were capable of being mixed into lethal bombs – ready to go, following one of the many recipes collated in his notebook and stored on his computer.” 

The prosecutor said there was also evidence Rehman went to lengths to ensure his would not be a failed attempt as seen on July 21, 2005, when the detonators failed to work. Eight days before his arrest he tweeted: “It’s always good practice to use more than one detonator in a device to ensure a successful detonation.” 

The couple married on 31 October 2013 at Reading Islamic Centre but lived separately, jurors heard. (are they actually married in the English law which is the only one that matters?

Rehman and Khan, both of Reading, are charged with preparing terrorist acts on or before May 28 this year. Rehman is also charged with possessing an article for terrorist purposes.

They deny the charges.

The trial continues.