UK Muslims Say Government Responsible for Anger, Next 7/7

A leader of the Muslim community in Leeds today said that the anger that fuelled the four bombers is still felt among some young men in the area.

Akhlaq Mir also called on the Government to “face up” to its responsibilities and help them fight terrorism.

Mr Mir said: “There are still feelings there that triggered the bombings. As far as the Muslim youth are concerned, our soldiers are out in Afghanistan killing people every day and they are angry and they are frustrated.”

Mr Mir, chairman of an education centre in the Chapeltown area of the city, added: “We try to educate them, we tell them what Islam says.

“But the fear is always there that some of them will follow a path that they shouldn't.

“The Government needs to do more, to provide projects like ours with funding and also give some of these young people a voice, so they can vent their anger and feel like they are being listened to without resorting to violence.”

Kasim Nasir, 27, who was an imam at a mosque used by Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Jermaine Lindsay, said residents in Beeston were horrified by what they did, but that the responsibility to deter young men from radicalisation lies with the Government.

He said: “People are disgusted by what they did, but people aren't concerned that others from here will follow the same path, because that is not the message this mosque or any other gives out.

“The problem is outside the mosque and therefore the Government needs to sort it out.”

Fahad Khan, 23, who works with Muslim teenagers in Beeston, said: “The bombers hijacked the Islamic faith in a negative way.

We don't want July 7 to be a legacy of Beeston or Leeds and so we are working hard to change that. Everyone wants to move on.”

A friend of the families of Tanweer, Hussain and Khan, said today was the day for the 52 innocent people killed but said the families “can't understand how their sons could have done this and they will never get the answers to their questions”.