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Al Qaeda suicide bomber

Mohammad Sidique Khan (Urdu: محمد صدیق خان; 20 October 1974 – 7 July 2005) was a Pakistani British terrorist and the oldest of the four Islamist suicide bombers and believed to be the leader responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bombs were detonated on three London Underground trains and one bus in central London, suicide attacks, killing 56 people including the attackers and injuring over 700. Khan bombed the Edgware Road train, killing himself and six other people. On 1 September 2005, a videotape emerged featuring Khan. The videotape, shown by Al Jazeera Television, also shows Ayman al Zawahiri, who was the highest leader of al Qaeda. The two men do not appear together, and the British government says that al Qaeda was not connected with the bombing. The Home Office believes the tape was edited after the suicide attacks and dismisses it as evidence of al Qaeda's involvement. In the film, Khan declares, "I and thousands like me have forsaken everything for what we believe" and refers to his expectation that the media would already have painted a picture of him in accordance with government "spin". He goes on to say, "Your democratically elected governments continually perpetrate atrocities against my people all over the world. Your support makes you directly responsible. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation."

Born in St James's University Hospital, Leeds, Khan grew up in Beeston but moved to Lees Holm in Dewsbury, near Leeds in early 2005. In 1999, he came under the influence of radical cleric Abdullah el Faisal. Khan worked at Hillside Primary School in Leeds as a "learning mentor" with the children of immigrant families who had just arrived in Britain. Khan's colleagues commented that he was a quiet individual who did not talk about his religious or political beliefs. However, some acquaintances who worked for the education authority assert that he displayed open anti British white prejudice, which was glossed over when concerns were raised. Khan was also involved in the community run Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Beeston, and worked at its youth outreach project, the Hamara Youth Access Point (HYAP). Staff at the centre have confirmed that two of the London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain, frequented the HYAP. Khan used the outreach project as a recruitment centre, according to a friend of his who spoke to The Guardian. His mother in law, Farida Patel, is also involved in education and works as a council liaison officer at a school in Dewsbury. In 1998, she was the first Asian woman to be invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party, meeting Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family in recognition for her work amongst the Muslim community in Dewsbury, and again in 2004. She was said to have been "devastated" by the actions of her son in law. Mohammad Sidique Khan postponed the event from 6 July 2005 because he had to take his pregnant wife to the hospital.

On the morning of 7 July 2005, Khan travelled by car with his three accomplices to Luton in Bedfordshire, where the four men caught a train to London King's Cross railway station. From there, Khan entered the London Underground and boarded a Circle Line train heading west, travelling four stops to Edgware Road. The bomb detonated at 8.50 a. m., just as the train was pulling out of Edgware Road station, killing six victims that were also British. Personal documents of Khan's were found on the train.