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Luton, a breeding ground for militants
Martin Bentham11.03.09
The latest display of extremism in Luton highlights continuing problems in the town with Islamic radicals which date back until even before the 9/11 attacks.
The problems began in the mid-nineties when al-Muhajiroun, led by Omar Bakri Mohammed, set up groups across the UK, including one in Luton, which fed off Muslim grievances over the conflicts in Bosnia and Chechnya, among others.
One of the first signs of the impact of the extremist ideology being propagated in Luton came in 2001 when two men from the town, Aftab Manzoor and Afzal Munir, were killed fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Even more disturbing links between the town and extremism emerged later, however, during the 2007 trial of a group of Islamic militants accused of plotting to use a fertiliser bomb to blow up targets including the Bluewater shopping centre and the Ministry of Sound nightclub.
The trial heard that the plot had involved extremists from cells in Luton, Crawley and east London, while one of the five men convicted in the case, Salahuddin Amin - regarded by police as a ringleader - came from Luton.
The court also heard that a key "facilitator" was another Luton man known as "Q", later named as Mohammed Qayum Khan. Evidence submitted during the trial stated that Khan, a part-time taxi driver who lived on the same road as the two men who died in Afghanistan, had links to al Qaeda and was an exporter of people, cash and equipment to militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He has been accused of sending Mohammad Sidique Khan, the mastermind of the 7 July bombings, to a militants' training camp in Pakistan in 2003, while he was also filmed meeting Omar Khyam, the now convicted ringleader of the Bluewater plot.
Exactly why Luton has produced such a sucession of extremists remains unclear, although some believe deprivation and unemployment are among the factors.
Whitehall sources say the town remains a focus of concern and continues to be a "magnet" for extremists alongside Beeston in Leeds, the home of most of the 7/7 bombers, and some parts of London.
