Mohammad Sidique Khan محمد صدیق خان | |
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Born | Mohammad Sidique Khan 20 October 1974 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |
Died | 7 July 2005 London, England | (aged 30)
Cause of death | Suicide bombing |
Alma mater | Leeds Metropolitan University |
Spouse | Hasina Patel |
Mohammad Sidique Khan (Urdu: محمد صدیق خان; 20 October 1974 – 7 July 2005)[1] was a British Pakistani 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.[2] 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."