Questions Over 7/7 Bomber’s Trip To Israel

By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter

The inquests into the 2005 London bombings, presented at the time as the conclusive and final judgement on the attacks, did not examine a potentially crucial part of the lead bomber’s back-story, a Sky News investigation has found.

The timing of an unexplained visit to Israel in early 2003 by lead 7/7 bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan was not addressed in any of the parliamentary or judicial investigations into the London attacks, despite the fact it occurred just weeks before two British men – with apparent connections to Khan – carried out a deadly suicide mission in Tel Aviv.

The chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee has told Sky News he will write to the Home Secretary seeking an explanation, and has raised the question of whether “further steps” could still be necessary.

The attack on Mike’s Place bar on the beach in Tel Aviv in April 2003 was carried out by Britain’s first ever suicide bombers.

Asif Hanif, from Hounslow, killed three people and injured more than 50 when he detonated his device.

Another bomb carried by Omar Sharif from Derby failed to detonate. He fled the scene and his body was found washed up on the beach weeks later. A coroner’s inquest ruled he had drowned.