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July 14, 2005
College Professor Implicated in London Bombings; Fourth Bomber Jamaican (updated with bio info)
Topics: TerrorismTwo more suspects identified in the London bombings. Add visas given to Middle Eastern professors and graduate students to Rusty Shackleford's list of immigration reforms. One of the suspects is a college instructor, Magdi El-Nashar from Egypt. [UPDATE: Suspect also went to graduate school at North Carolina State. Scroll down for info...] Also, co-author Mike Pechar reveals the identity of London's fourth mass-murder--and he's Jamaican. This means he was not the son of Pakistani immigrants, as the other three were, and that he was a most probably a convert to Islam.
Lindsey Germaine, Jamaican-born, lived in Buckinghamshire.
[UPDATE: He is not the mastermind, only a suspect according to other sources. A chemistry instructor at Leeds University has been implicated as the possibe mastermind behind the 7/7 bombings, but the fact that the bomb-making materials were found in his apartment puts him squarely at the center of the conspiracy.]
The way that the article is written, it sounds as if he may have been a graduate student.
A CHEMISTRY lecturer linked to the Leeds bomb factory was being hunted last night by cops trying to trace the mastermind of the 7/7 atrocity.
Egyptian Magdi El-Nashar, 33, rented a flat at 18 Alexandra Grove in the suburb of Burley.
The lecturer -- also taking a PhD biochemistry course at Leeds University -- vanished days before the London outrage.
He is thought to have returned to Egypt, where al-Qaeda have a strong base.
At least two of the suicide bombers who caused the carnage have been connected to the flat, 200 yards from Leeds Grand mosque.
Forensic experts were searching the house in which the flat stands yesterday -- and are thought to have found explosives. Anti-terror cops are also trying to trace ANOTHER suspected prime mover of the London attacks.
This article from News.com.au says he PLANNED the attacks.
Opinion Bug also has a CCTV photo of Hasib Hussain posted.
Jawa Report has more on the story ....
Updates (now in extended post)...
Other coverage - Outside the Beltway
Steven Emerson has forwarded el-Nashar's biography at Leeds University to "The CounterTerrorism Blog," which you can download below (Word file). El-Nashar earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry and organic chemistry, respectively, at Cairo University.
Download elnashars_bio.doc
Also from "The CounterTerrorism Blog," "Michael Cutler reminds me that his interests are noted as "biocatalytic materials and ...enzyme immobilization...biocatalysis and the design and operation of biocatalytic processes with potential for technical applications," which sounds to us laymen like the study of bio-chem warfare.""
And, "Investigators are also probing the trip by dead bombing suspect Shahzad Tanweer to Pakistan, where he's believed to have visited a madrassa run by the radical Lashkar-e-Tayyaba group (LeT). See my post about that trip and see Evan Kohlmann's discussion of LeT, which was designated by the UN earlier this year after a long delay. Fox News reports late today that the FBI is investigating whether one of the dead bombers traveled to Ohio several years ago and whether he met convicted Al Qaeda associate Iyman Faris."
Other Updates:
Jawa Report came up with el-Nashar's email address.
Another Jawa Report update: It looks like the terrorist in question was on a fellowship sponsored by the European Union.
Mike Pechar, a co-author at Jawa Report, makes an important point at his own blog.
And here's el-Nashar's telephone numbers, but someone else will have to answer it - +44(0) 113 3433162 (UK local).
Dread Pundit Bluto(via JR) finds that the grant he recieved was worth about $60k. "Depending upon how stringent the accounting for the funds were, it's possible that el-Nashar financed the attacks with money from his stipend as a Fellow."
Posted by Hyscience at July 14, 2005 2:28 PM
Articles Related to Terrorism:
- College Professor Implicated in London Bombings; Fourth Bomber Jamaican (updated with bio info) - Jul 14, 2005
