Bomb plot doctor faces life in jail

Dec 16 2008

An NHS doctor faces life in prison after being found guilty of plotting to murder hundreds of people with car bomb attacks on London and Glasgow.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions by a jury at the end of a nine-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

The Iraqi junior doctor drove one of two home-made Mercedes car bombs, each packed with gas cylinders, petrol and nails, into London's West End last summer.

When they failed to explode, he joined a desperate suicide attack on Glasgow Airport's main terminal building with Indian PhD student Kafeel Ahmed.

Abdulla's close friend Jordanian neurologist Mohammed Asha, 28, was acquitted of the same charges and is now expected to fight to continue his high-flying career in Britain.

The doctor will be transferred from Belmarsh Prison to an immigration detention centre where he will begin the process of attempting to obtain a fresh working visa. A source close to Dr Asha said he is "in limbo" but "extremely happy, emotional and already thinking of getting back in to practising medicine".

Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, said the West End bombs were to be the first in a series of attacks.

He said many people could have been killed in the London attack and it was "more by luck than judgment" that repeated attempts to detonate the devices by mobile phone failed.

Mr McDowall said: "Bilal Abdulla planned to murder many innocent people when he set out to attack central London. He and Kafeel Ahmed, who died in the attack on Glasgow Airport, wanted to capture public attention, both in the UK and abroad. They would certainly have done this had their murderous plans come to fruition."

Abdulla, who held dual Iraqi and British nationality, wanted revenge for the wars in his homeland and what he saw as Western oppression of Muslims worldwide.