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Video footage of the panic when an Islamic terrorist cell said to contain two NHS doctors drove a car bomb into a British airport was shown to a jury yesterday.
Bilal Abdulla and Kafeel Ahmed were said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” – meaning God is great – and hurled petrol bombs as they drove a Jeep packed with gas canisters into Glasgow airport terminal building, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
The closed-circuit television pictures showed it engulfed in flames and billowing black smoke as holidaymakers, many with children, fled. Some of those who had been queueing at check-in desks were trampled in the mayhem on June 30, the airport’s busiest day last year.
Despite being on fire, Ahmed, 28, could be seen punching and kicking police. A passer-by suffered a broken leg and lost a tooth after Dr Abdulla, the 29-year-old passenger, was said to have kicked and punched him.
On the second day of the prosecution case, Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, said: “The Jeep became caught against the side of one of the entrance doors. Kafeel Ahmed then reversed the vehicle. The tyres screeching, he made the first of a number of attempts to crash through the airport doors. He struck the pillars or door frame until the vehicle became trapped. Those who were in the vicinity noticed the driver’s face was set and determined as he stared forward.
“As police officers and members of the public, stunned by what had happened, gathered in an attempt to extinguish the fire, Ahmed, even though he himself was alight, tried to obstruct them by punching and kicking out. CS gas was sprayed at him, and eventually he was kicked to the ground before the fire on him was extinguished. Then he was subdued, handcuffed and arrested.”
Ahmed died in hospital from burns four weeks later.
Dr Abdulla, from Glasgow, was told to step away from the vehicle but tried to run, lashing out at police and civilians trying to stop him. At one point he shouted that there were bombs, the QC said.
Mr Laidlaw said that a draft of Dr Abdulla’s will, addressed to Osama bin Laden, was found on a laptop in the burnt-out Jeep. The doctor wrote that he was planning to kill in revenge for injustices against Muslims by British and US soldiers.
The computer also contained videos of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq, and clips of speeches by bin Laden.
“This document is addressed to, amongst others, the leaders of jihad in Iraq to bin Laden and to the brothers or soldiers of jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine and other areas of the world,” Mr Laidlaw said, adding that the defendant’s claim that he had not wanted to kill anyone was a “lie” because the existence of the will meant he had expected to be killed by the car bomb.
The jury was told that the previous day, the men had tried to detonate two car bombs in Central London. Dr Abdulla and Ahmed drove one of the vehicles outside a nightclub, and the other in front of a late-night bus stop.
The cars, packed with nails, gas canisters and petrol, failed to explode because the trigger devices did not work properly.
CCTV showed them leaving the area early that morning. Ahmed was seen throwing away an umbrella he was said to have used to hide his face. At 1.39am he was filmed getting on to a rickshaw in Piccadilly Circus. Dr Abdulla was said to have also fled by rickshaw.
Mohammed Asha, 28, also a doctor, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was arrested on the M6 after undercover officers watched him dump Islamic documents, books and CDs. The prosecution claims that he funded the attacks and was kept informed of their preparation.
The two doctors deny conspiring to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life. The trial continues.
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John Smeaton, the former baggage-handler who became a national figure following the alleged bomb attacks on Glasgow airport, is in intensive care at the Royal Alexandria Hospital, in Paisley, after an asthma attack. Mr Smeaton, 32, was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal after last year’s incident.
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