Suicide bomber lived in Britain: Islamic fanatic in Stockholm car blast was radicalised while studying in Luton

• Taimour al-Abdaly graduated from Bedfordshire in 2004
• He worked as a sandwich-boarded man on street he attacked
• He detonated himself in shopping centre after setting off car bomb

An Islamic fundamentalist was radicalised in Britain before carrying out a suicide bombing on a busy street in Sweden.
Iraqi-born Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly, 28, blew up his car, then himself, in the capital Stockholm.
He had spent much of the last decade in Luton – long known as a hotbed of terrorism – where he studied for a degree and continued living there with his wife and children.
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Terror: A firefighter with a foam hose battles with the car after it was set ablaze by the bomber

The Iraqi-born bomber first set his car on fire and then walked 200 metres before the explosives, believed to be in a backpack strapped to his body, detonated.
Just minutes before, he had sent out an email to the police and a news agency warning of deadly reprisals for having Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan.
He was the registered owner of the car that blew up and was believed to have worked on the street corner on which he died, carrying a sign advertising a local fish-and-chip restaurant..

Looking for love: Suspected bomber Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly used Muslim dating sit Muslima.com (left) in his search for a second  wife

The Bedfordshire town has a Muslim population of 20,000 and has been linked with a string of high-profile extremists.
Last year Muslim protesters disrupted a homecoming march of soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
Police were investigating Abdulwahab’s British connections last night.
Neighbours in Luton suggested that his wife, who herself has fundamentalist views, and their children are still living there.
The involvement of a student from a British university in yet another terrorist incident will raise fresh questions about admissions to UK universities, and the radicalisation of Muslim students when studying in this country.

Aftermath: The body of a suicide bomber - thought to be Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly - lies in a Stockholm city centre street covered with a blanket following two blasts yesterday afternoon

The suicide bomber: Named as Taimour Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly

It is less than a year ago that a worldwide alert was sparked when former University College London student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, was arrested on suspicion of trying to blow up an aeroplane with explosives hidden in his underpants.
The latest bomber moved to Sweden with his family from Iraq when he was 11.
He came to Britain in 2001 to study sports therapy at the University of Luton, now the University of Bedfordshire.
He moved back to Sweden more recently and is believed to have separated from his wife, but they have not divorced.
His Facebook page features an Islamic flag being raised over a world in flames.
On the page, he says he is a member of the group Islamic Caliphate State, which seeks to establish Islamic rule worldwide and adds: ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m proud’.
On another website he is said to have pictured Tower Bridge engulfed by an inferno.
Terror came to usually peaceful Stockholm on Saturday afternoon, minutes after Abdulwahab – who was due to celebrate his 29th birthday today – sent a warning of an impending attack to a Swedish news agency and police.
The warning referred to the presence of 500 Swedish troops among the Allies in Afghanistan and caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed drawn three years ago by Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.

Ablaze: A firefighter attempts to put out the fire following a car bomb explosion in Stockholm

Firemen pour in foam to douse the flames of the burning car in Stockholm

The warning email contained messages to the bomber’s family, one asking that his children were told ‘Daddy loves them’.
Immediately after the email arrived, Abdulwahab’s car burst into flames on a busy street in the city centre, with a series of explosions following from gas canisters stashed inside the vehicle.
Around ten minutes later Abdulwahab shouted in Arabic before detonating a pipe bomb which killed him and wounded two passers-by.
Tragedy was only narrowly avoided, as police are understood to have found five more bombs on Abdulwahab’s corpse which did not go off. He also wore a rucksack full of nails.

The suspected suicide car bomber lies under a blanket while a police forensic officer removes debris from the around the body

Sealed off: The scene where two separate bomb explosions hit the centre of Stockholm

Hunting for clues: A police forensics officer takes a mobile phone picture of what appears to an identity card at the scene of the bomber's body

It was speculated that the car bomb was designed to attract police and crowds, who would have been killed in their scores if all the suicide bombs had gone off.
At a taxi office opposite the Luton flat where Abdulwahab is understood to have lived with his wife, employee Imran Khan, 31, said: ‘We used to see him all the time. He lived across the road with his wife, a chubby lady who wore a full veil that covered everything apart from her eyes.
‘He was really quiet and she wouldn’t say anything. I haven’t seen him here for a while but she’s still around with their two little kids.’

Luton - hotbed of radicalism

The woman believed to be Abdulwahab’s wife two years ago signed an online petition calling for the wearing of the veil to remain legal worldwide.
On a Muslim dating website Abdulwahab was searching for a second wife. His advert said ‘I am looking for a practising Muslim to join a lovely family and make it bigger.
‘In the future, I am looking for to move to an Arabic country and settle down there.’

 

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Suicide bomber lived in Britain: Islamic fanatic in Stockholm car blast was radicalised while studying in Luton

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337930/Suicide-bomber-died-Stockholm-terrorist-blasts-studied-British-university.html#ixzz180C0HvAY