In swift fashion, British and Italian security personnel have nabbed five suspects believed to be responsible for the 7/21 attempted London bombings. The Scotsman, quickly becoming one of my favorite news sources, details the police work, fortunate breaks and tips that led to the quick round-up that now has at least one terrorist broken and babbling like a scared little child.
Dirty, hungry, tired and humiliated, Osman Hussain was already a broken man when Italian security officers took him in for questioning. The suspected bomber had been seized in Rome the previous day as part of an astonishing intelligence operation that snared all of the fugitives being hunted for bringing Islamic terrorism to the UK.
In London four other suspects, Muktar Said-Ibrahim, Yasin Hassan Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Wahbi Mohammed, were being grilled by specialist interrogators at the high-security anti-terrorist unit at Paddington Green.
Unable to sleep on the uncomfortable concrete slabs and under the round-the-clock glare of the strip lighting in their cells, the prospect of hours of endless questioning will have been daunting.
It seems Osman was the first to break.
Yesterday morning, Italian officials alleged that the 27-year-old Briton, who has Ethiopian citizenship, had begun to give up information, giving the first insight into how the July 21 gang, which tried and failed to blow up London’s public transport, operated.
In what was said to be a signed confession he admitted carrying the rucksack containing explosives but insisted he never intended to kill anyone. Instead he wanted to sow the “seeds of terror”.
It just breaks my heart to see such well-intentioned Islamists reduced to this. Hey, they never wanted to kill anyone, just maybe arouse some social interest. Pay no attention to the bombs wrapped in nails. Make no mistake, these terrorists certainly wanted blood. They certainly wanted lives. I’m just not certain this handful of scum really wanted to be martyrs.