ONE of the last victims of the London bombings to be named by police was a young Afghan Muslim whose parents were killed by the Taleban.

Ateeque Sharifi, 24, who was living in Hounslow, West London, fled Kabul three years ago to seek refuge in Britain. He was the only male member of his family to escape death at the hands of the Taleban. He died in the explosion set off by bomber Jermaine Lindsay as their Piccadilly Line train approached the station at Russell Square.

Eight months after arriving in Britain, Mr Sharifi enrolled in West Thames College and began mastering the English language, working in his spare time at a take-away pizza restaurant. Most of his wages were sent to Afghanistan to his younger sister who still lives there.

“The deep irony of this tragic event is that Ateeque had left Afghanistan to seek safety in Britain, only to find his fate at the hands of extremists here,” Thalia Marriott, principal of West Thames College, said. Mr Sharifi had been one of the most popular students in the college, she added.

Mr Sharifi had been travelling home after spending the night with friends when he was caught in the blast, it was reported last night in The Independent newspaper.

Mr Sharifi counted many British as well as Indians and Pakistanis people among his friends. He attended the mosque close to where he lived with three friends. He had hoped to pursue a career in IT, while following his dream of marrying and raising a family in Britain, his friends said.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, laid flowers outside King’s Cross station yesterday in tribute to Mr Sharifi..

Earlier, he told an audience at Chatham House: “Afghanistan knows better perhaps than any other nation the pain of those families that suffered terrorist atrocity.”

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