The Hindu : Front Page : Kafeel Ahmed dies of burns

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Saturday, Aug 04, 2007
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Kafeel Ahmed dies of burns

Hasan Suroor

Kafeel Ahmed

LONDON: Kafeel Ahmed, Indian engineer suspected to have been involved in the failed attack on the Glasgow airport on June 30, died in a Scotland hospital late on Thursday.

Kafeel (27), who hails from Bangalore, suffered 90 per cent burns when he drove a burning jeep into the airport a day after the attempted bombings in London. Live television images of his body in flames were seen around the world while hundreds of shocked passengers watched in horror as an off-duty policeman tried to douse the fire.

Kafeel, who was seen fighting off attempts to save him, was taken to the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley and later moved to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where a skin graft was attempted.

Kafeel remained under police guard until his death. But the police were not able to question him because of his critical condition and he was never charged.

There was no comment from the police on Friday except confirmation of his death. As he was not charged, even his identity was not officially disclosed. “We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at the Glasgow airport on Saturday, June 30, has died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary,” a spokesperson for the Strathclyde police said.

Post-mortem would be done to determine the exact cause of his death but there would be no inquest because that is not the practice in Scotland.

Asked when the body would be handed over to Kafeel’s family, the spokesperson said: “We are not supposed to comment on any aspect of the case.” Kafeel’s co-occupant of the jeep, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. Kafeel’s younger brother Sabeel Ahmed, a medical doctor, has also been charged in connection with the attempted London-Glasgow terror plot. He was arrested in Liverpool on June 30 and charged with having information that could have prevented a terror act.

He is accused of having had information which he “knew or believed may be of material assistance in preventing the commission by another [person] of an act of terrorism”. Jordanian doctor Mohammed Asha has also been charged.

The three were among the seven arrested in Britain after the failed attacks. Sabeel’s cousin, Haneef, who was arrested in Australia after a botched investigation, has been released and is now back in India.

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