Three convicted of 21/7 London bomb plot
Regional-UK, Local, 7/9/2007

Three men were convicted today over an attempted copycat bomb plot in London, two weeks after the 7/7 attacks on the capital's transport system killed a total of 56 people in 2005.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Omar were found guilty of conspiracy to murder after a six months trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south London.

Verdicts on Hussein Omar, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu and Adel Yahya, who are also charged in relation to the alleged would-be attacks of 21/7 were still being considered by the jury.

The suspects, who denied the charges, had claimed the bombs were fakes, and their actions had been intended as a protest against the war in Iraq.

At the start of the trial, they were accused of planning "murderous suicide bombings" on the public transport. The conspiracy was said to have been "in existence long before the events of July 7" and did not appear as a "hastily arranged copycat." But similar to the 7/7 attacks, the court was told of how the cell also tried to detonate bombs on three Tube trains and a bus on July 21, 2005.

The prosecutor described how bombs, made using a mix of liquid hydrogen peroxide, chapatti flour, acetone and acid, were placed in a large plastic container and screws, tacks, washers or nuts, to "maximize the possibility of injury." After unanimously returning the three guilty verdicts, the jury was told by the judge that he would accept a majority verdict of 10 to 2 for the other three, according to the BBC.

Sentences will be issued later.

A further 11 people, including relatives of the suspects, are also awaiting trial later this year, having been accused of failing to disclose information and assisting others evade arrest in relation to the would-be attacks.

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