Agenices
London, Oct 9: In a startling report, a leading newspaper has claimed that the London bombers were initially ordered by al-Qaeda to assassinate the England and Australian cricket teams during the 2005 Ashes series.
Quoting a friend of one of the terrorists, 'The Sunday Times', said Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer allegedly received the orders at a training camp near Kotli, in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, in December 2004.
The claims have been made by a family friend of Hasib Hussain, the bus bomber who killed 13 people. The friend, who is willing to pass his information to the police, uses a pseudonym, Ahmed Hafiz.
According to 32-year-old Hafiz, the bombers were instructed to get jobs as stewards at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground and spray sarin gas inside the changing rooms.
The second Test between England and Australia, whose governments have supported Washington in the war on terror, began on August 4, 2005.
Hafiz, whose family have known the Hussains for 25 years, said he had received details of the bombers' visit from members of his extended family, who are involved in running the camp in PoK.
He claimed 22-year-old Tanweer objected to the plot, possibly because he himself was a cricketer. He was told by a witness that Tanweer argued with Khan, 30, and a scuffle between them had to be broken up by a minder.
Both the England and Australian teams are currently in India for the 10-nation Champions Trophy cricket tournament which began in Mohali yesterday.
Hafiz also provided a picture of the minder, who was allegedly shot last August.
Later, Hafiz claims, the camp's commanders -- militants affiliated to al-Qaeda -- revealed the plot to bomb the London Underground to Khan and Tanweer.
"It was always there, as Plan B," said Hafiz.
Although it was known the two bombers visited Pakistan in November 2004, until now no details have emerged about which camp they attended.
However, last week, locals in Kotli said all training camps in the region had been suspended since autumn 2004, under pressure from the ISI, Pakistan's military intelligence agency. But there are still militant safe houses in the area, the report said.
According to Hafiz, the camp commanders put Khan and Tanweer in touch with a bomb-making expert, who was based in Birmingham.
The expert, known as Afzal Shaan, is said to be a chemistry graduate from a British university who is in his forties, bald and usually clean-shaven.
Hafiz also provides an explanation for Khan's emergence as the ringleader of the London bombers.
Khan was a friend of Omar Sharif, the Derby-based terrorist who tried to blow himself up in Tel Aviv in 2003. While his associate killed three people, Sharif's bomb failed and he fled the scene. His body was found two weeks later washed up on the beach.
"That was the turning point for Sidique. He felt angry," said Hafiz. "He changed from being a cheerleader of jihad to one of those people who became active."
Hafiz claimed that Khan first visited the camp in PoK in the summer of 2003 on his own, after being given an introduction by an 'imam' in Leeds. Neither the police nor the security services know of the Muslim cleric and his involvement with Khan.
The camp commanders were impressed when they saw Khan ceremonially sacrifice a bull, and told him to return to the UK and prepare a group of friends willing to be martyrs.