Glasgow, UK: Airport terror attack Jeep driver dies of his burns

The scene of the attack on the terminal building at Glasgow airport in Scotland in this July 1, 2007 file photo. Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed who suffered severe burns when he allegedly mounted an al Qaeda attack on the Glasgow airport has died in hospital, British police said on Friday. REUTERS/Chris McNulty/Daily Mail/Pool


Airport terror attack Jeep driver dies of his burns
WILLIAM TINNING August 03 2007


A terror suspect being treated for severe burns after the Glasgow Airport attack has died in hospital, police said last night.
Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was being treated in a specialist burns unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary following the attack on Saturday June 30. It is understood he had been under armed guard.
A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said: "We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow Airport on Saturday June 30 has died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
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"The man died earlier this evening and the circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator- fiscal."
Ahmed was one of two men held at the airport after a Jeep was rammed repeatedly into the main terminal building and burst into flames.
The would-be suicide bomber was wrestled to the ground by police and members of the public after setting himself on fire, having jumped from the vehicle. The incident happened a day after police found two unexploded car bombs in central London.
Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, who was believed to be a passenger in the vehicle at Glasgow Airport, was charged on July 6 with conspiring to cause explosions.
Ahmed, from Bangalore, India, had suffered third-degree burns to 90% of his body when arrested. He was initially treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, but was transferred to Glasgow Royal Infirmary within a few days of the attack.
The severity of his injuries led some medical experts to predict he would not survive. Some said he might not even live a week after the incident.
In the days after the attack, one of the medical team who treated him said his condition was "beyond repair".
Speaking anonymously to a news organisation, he said: "The prognosis is not good and he is not likely to survive. He has third-degree burns over most of his torso and limbs. It is beyond repair and because he has lost so much skin, he is now vulnerable to infection and won't be able to fight it."
One report later quoted senior police sources as saying that Ahmed was being kept alive on the orders of MI5.
They claimed the security services wanted him alive to avoid a backlash from radical Muslims.
It is understood he was on a life-support machine in hospital. Police and medical sources claimed the decision to keep him alive was more to do with politics than clinical judgment.
One medical source estimated the combined cost of round-the-clock security and medical treatment for Ahmed since the attack had reached £150,000.
He had been in a coma since the incident. Most burns experts believed he was effectively dead. Last week it emerged that special shark-skin implants costing £20,000 were being used to treat his injuries.
It was initially thought he was a medical doctor. However, it was later confirmed he was an engineer who had a doctorate in aeronautical engineering. He had studied at Queen's University, Belfast, and Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge.
Seven men and one woman were initially held over the car-bomb attack on Glasgow and the attempted attacks in central London.
As well as Mr Abdullah, those arrested included Mohammed Asha, stopped on the M6 in Cheshire on June 30. He was also charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. Two trainee doctors, arrested at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley on July 1, were later freed without charge.
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Northern Ireland linked terrorist dies

utvlive.com
Kafeel Ahmed, the terrorist suspect who studied at Queens University, Belfast has died in hospital.
Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was being cared for at a specialist unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after the incident on June 30.
Originally from Bangalore, India, Ahmed had studied aeronautical engineering at Queen`s in 2001.
He then worked at the university as a research assistant spending some three years in Northern Ireland.
A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said: "We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow Airport on Saturday June 30 has died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
"The circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator fiscal."
Ahmed was under police guard at GRI after being transferred from The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
The engineer, from Bangalore, India, was one of two men detained at the airport after a burning car was driven into the terminal building.
Fellow suspect Bilal Abdullah, 27, an Iraqi doctor, was arrested and charged with conspiring to cause explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury".
Ahmed was said to have suffered 90% burns in the incident. He spent 33 days in hospital before succumbing to his injuries.
The Glasgow Airport attack followed two suspected car bomb attempts in central London when police discovered two vehicles allegedly laden with gas canisters and fuel.
Eight people were initially held over the incidents, of which three were eventually charged.