Passenger Recounts Botched London Bombing

A firefighter told a court on Tuesday how he tried to subdue an alleged bomber who apparently detonated a device close to a woman and her young child on an Underground train.

But Ramzi Mohamed refused to submit and fled the train at the next station, Angus Campbell told the trial of Mohamed and five others charged with conspiring to bomb London's transport system July 21, 2005.

Campbell said he was watching the woman opposite him try to get her child into its buggy when Mohamed allegedly tried to detonate a bomb in his rucksack.

"My first memory was being cowed," he told the jury at London's Central Criminal Court. "I was crouched in my seat. ... The first thing I remember seeing is Mr. Mohamed, who was screaming and shouting, and there was smoke issuing from behind him."

Mohamed; Manfu Asiedu, 33; Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28; Yasin Omar, 26; Adel Yahya, 24; and Hussain Osman, 28, all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.

Prosecutors say the plot failed when four bombs failed to explode on subway carriages and a bus July 21, 2005 — two weeks after four suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 people in attacks on London's transport system.

Campbell said that, as he helped the woman and her baby to leave the carriage, he shouted at Mohamed, "What have you done, what have you done?"

The firefighter told the court that initially he thought Mohamed "was in pain, I thought he was a victim."

But when he questioned Mohamed, the alleged bomber replied, "This is wrong, this is wrong."

Campbell said he asked Mohamed about sponge-like debris on the floor of the carriage and the alleged bomber replied, "This is bread."

"It was nonsensical," Campbell said.

Prosecutors say the bombs were made from a mixture of concentrated hydrogen peroxide and chapati flour, a recipe that could make a viable explosive. In every case, however, only the detonators fired properly, and the would-be bombers ran away.