Men "scouted targets" for British 7/7 bombings: court

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Three men charged in connection with the July 7, 2005 London suicide bombings went on trial on Thursday, accused of scouting for potential targets in the capital.

Mohammed Shakil, 31, Sadeer Saleem, 27 and Waheed Ali, 24, were friends with the bombers and shared common beliefs, Kingston Crown Court in southwest London was told.

The bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain killed 52 people and wounded hundreds in co-ordinated morning rush hour attacks on three underground trains and a bus.

During a reconnaissance weekend seven months before the bombings, two of the accused visited the London Eye, the Natural History Museum and the London Aquarium, prosecutors alleged.

They said various types of evidence would help explain the group's motivations including contacts with people convicted of terrorist activity; traveling to Pakistan and possessing radical ideological material.

The court heard the accused had extensive contact with the bombers, which had been uncovered through mobile records, fingerprints on documents, family videos and surveillance.

The ringleader of the bombers recorded a video for his young daughter when he left on a previous mission expecting to die, prosecutors said.

"Sweetheart, not long to go now. And I'm going to really, really miss you a lot," Khan says to the camera while holding the little girl.

Khan then goes on to introduce his daughter's "uncles" -- two of the bombers and the defendant Waheed Ali.

Prosecutors say Kahn expected to die while fighting jihad in Afghanistan, but later changed his mind and opted to attack London.

Prosecutors say that between November 17, 2004 and July 8, 2005, Shakil, Saleem and Ali "unlawfully and maliciously" conspired with the four bombers and others unknown to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious harm and injury.

The group, all from Beeston, Leeds, deny the single charge under the Explosive Substances Act 1883.

Dressed casually in open necked shirts, they sat in the dock, listening with arms crossed.

Prosecutor Neil Flewitt told the jury the group had developed violent thoughts against Britain.

9/11 PRAISE