LONDON, 4 August 2007 — The Scottish Procurator Fiscal yesterday ordered a postmortem to be carried out on the body of Dr. Kafeel Ahmed, one of the two terror suspects involved in the terror attack at Glasgow Airport on June 30.
Kafeel, a 27-year-old from Bangalore in India, died late Thursday evening at Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a result of 90 degree burns he received to his torso after driving a blazing Jeep Cherokee laden with gas and petrol cylinders, and nails, into the main terminal building at the airport. Kafeel’s body will be released to his next-of-kin once a cause of death is officially confirmed.
The family lawyer, B.T. Venkatesh, speaking to the British media yesterday said that “the British authorities have not confirmed to the family if this is Kafeel Ahmed or any other person.”
After being doused with a fire extinguisher by an off-duty policeman, Kafeel was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley soon after the attempted terror attack.
Because of the severity of his burns he was later transferred to the specialist burns unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where doctors treating him warned that he was unlikely to survive his injuries. He spent 33 days in the unit’s intensive care ward.
Eyewitness reports suggest that the terror suspect doused himself with petrol and set himself alight. He had been detained under police guard at the hospital since the incident, in which his alleged accomplice Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah, 27, an Iraqi doctor, has subsequently been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions, and sent for trial at the Old Bailey.
The Glasgow incident followed two attempted terror attacks in Central London the day before using two car bombs packed with petrol and gas cylinders and bolts and nails. The incidents precipitated a nationwide manhunt for the suspects.
Police confirmed that both attacks were linked and centered around a group of doctors working in the National Health Service in the UK. They arrested eight people in a matter of days, including six doctors all working in the NHS and a laboratory technician.
This prompted police to talk about a terrorist “sleeper cell” based in the UK’s National Health Service. Of the eight detained, four have been released without charges; and one died on Thursday evening.
Two medics, Dr. Mohammed Asha, 26, from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, from Liverpool, have respectively been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and with failing to disclose information that could have helped police arrest a suspected terrorist. They, like Kafeel Ahmed’s alleged accomplice, Bilal Abdullah, are also awaiting trial at the Old Bailey.
Ahmed obtained a doctorate in design and technology at Anglia Polytechnic University (now called Anglia Ruskin University) in Cambridge. In 2001 he completed a post-graduate course in aeronautical engineering at Queen’s University in Belfast. He is the brother of Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, and a cousin of Dr. Mohammed Haneef, who was arrested in Australia for allegedly assisting a terrorist organization but was last week released without charges and is now back at home in Bangalore.
The Scottish Executive (government) yesterday defended his treatment by the NHS. “There has been some comment about the treatment provided for him by the NHS. It was perfectly right that he should have received the appropriate treatment our health service could offer as this reflects the value our society places on human life. The focus now should be on the criminal investigation that is under way,” said the executive in a statement.
