Parsons Green attack: 18-year-old Ahmed Hassan charged with terror bombing on Tube train
Teenager is first suspect charged in connection with attempted bombing that injured 30 victims
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An 18-year-old man has been charged with carrying out the attempted bombing on a London Tube train.
Ahmed Hassan, of Sunbury-on-Thames, is accused of attempted murder and explosives offences over the terror attack.
The Iraqi refugee spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Hassan appeared in the dock wearing a grey jumper and with long dark hair, and was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 13 October.
Mr Hassan was arrested in the port of Dover on Saturday, a day after a fireball ripped through a packed carriage at Parsons Green station during the height of morning rush hour.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said he had been charged with “attempting to murder persons travelling on a District Line train from Wimbledon” and “maliciously causing by triacetone triperoxide (TATP) or other explosive substance an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life”.
Mr Hassan was originally one of two refugees fostered by the same couple in Surrey arrested over the attempted bombing.
The second man, 21-year-old Yahyah Farroukh, was released without charge on Thursday, as was a 48-year-old man detained in Newport.
Three other men, aged 17, 25 and 30, remain in custody under section 41 of the Terrorism Act in connection with the investigation, which is being lead by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Searches are ongoing at Hassan’s home in Surrey and two properties in Newport, Wales, including one used to house asylum seekers.
One of the men arrested has been identified as an Iraqi Kurd known locally as Bilal, with friends saying they “can't believe” he would be involved in the atrocity.
The 25-year-old was arrested in Glebe Street, Newport, at 7pm on Tuesday and police are continuing search the house where he lived in Jeffrey Street.
The painter and decorator used a Facebook account with the profile name Mahdi Rahimi, locals and friends confirmed.
One said the suspect, an Iranian Kurd, arrived in Newport in about 2009.
“I've known him since he arrived here, a mutual friend introduced us on his first day in Newport,” he told the Press Association.
“He is a very good guy, I can't believe this. He is Kurdish, he describes terrorists like Isis as stupid.
“He is hard-working and helpful. He has painted a lot of the shops and houses round here.
“He used to walk past every day on his way to the mosque, he would come and shake my hand and say hello.”
The man said Bilal wanted to study at university but had not been able to as he was waiting for permanent residency in the UK, so was instead enrolled at a local college.
Local residents said he would pray at a number of mosques in Newport, including the Iqra community centre, five times a day.
“Everyone knew him around here,” one person said. “He is Kurdish – he wouldn't have anything to do with Isis.
“Kurdish people know what Isis are doing, they are fighting them.”
A woman described Bilal as a “nice guy” who had condemned terrorism in discussions with her husband.