By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor and Neil Tweedie

The Daily Telegraph (UK), 2 September 2005 

Mohammad Sidique Khan, the suspected leader of the July 7 London suicide bombers, vowed in a video statement released last night that al-Qa’eda would continue to attack western countries because of “atrocities” they had committed across the Islamic world.

The former teaching assistant from West Yorkshire, who blew himself up at Edgware Road station, killing six people and wounding 120, cast himself as the avenger of downtrodden Muslims, declaring: “We are at war and I am a soldier.”

His video was issued by al-Qa’eda to al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel, with an accompanying commentary by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man.

The slick video includes a subtitle describing the “martyr” Khan as “One of the knights of the blessed raids on London”. It is designed to place the blame for the attacks that killed 52 people and wounded more than 700 others on Tony Blair and his policy in the Middle East.

It also seeks to strengthen the claim that the July 7 bombings were a genuine al-Qa’eda-sponsored operation.

Khan was filmed wearing a dark coat and a red-and-white Arab headscarf, folded in the Saudi manner. He sat in a room against a decorated cloth, with no obvious clues as to when or where the recording was made.

After reciting an Islamic prayer, Khan declared in a broad Yorkshire accent: “Our words have no impact upon you. Therefore I’m going to talk to you in language that you will understand. Our words are dead until we give them life with our blood.”

The core of his message tried to justify the killing of civilians. “Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetrate atrocities against my people all over the world. And your support for them makes you directly responsible, just like I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters.

“Until we feel security, you will be our targets. Until you stop the bombing, gassing and imprisonment of my people, we will not stop this fight. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you will taste the reality of this situation.”

Khan made no direct mention of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he hailed bin Laden, Zawahiri, and the Iraqi terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as “our beloved sheikhs”.

Zawahiri, a former Egyptian doctor regarded as the operational mastermind behind al-Qa’eda, said the bombings were a “slap in the face” for Mr Blair. He said al-Qa’eda had “moved our battle right to the enemy’s doorstep”.

He said: “We have repeated again and again, and here we are warning one more time – all those who took part in the aggression on Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, we will respond in kind. And as they have let rivers of blood run in our countries, we will, God willing, erupt volcanoes of anger in their countries.”

Intelligence experts in Britain and elsewhere will scrutinise the latest video for clues. Khan had no weapon and held only a biro, while Zawahiri was filmed next to a grenade launcher. This may indicate that Khan was filmed in Britain rather than Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The two-month delay in releasing the video is unexplained, but there have been suspicions that al-Qa’eda videos contain coded signals for further attacks. Alternatively, the makers may have been waiting to obtain Zawahiri’s video before releasing it.

The tape bore the “al-Sahab” logo, meaning “The Clouds”, which is a signature of al-Qa’eda videos.

Khan, 30, is the oldest of the four men involved in the attacks, and is believed to have selected and indoctrinated his fellow bombers.

A teaching assistant from Dewsbury, West Yorks, he used book shops in Leeds to recruit youths. They included two of the July 7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and Hasib Mir Hussain, 18.

It is believed that Khan may have visited Pakistan several times, and possibly Afghanistan. He was also reported to have visited Israel for one day in February 2003, when he may have helped in the preparation of a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv involving two young British Pakistanis.

Downing Street declined to comment on the video. However, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the nation would be sickened by the tape. “Nothing can justify the murder of innocent people,” he said.

A committee member at Leeds Islamic Centre, Arshad Hanif, said Muslims would be “horrified” if there was more planning to the attacks than everybody thought.