Ross Sheil and Claude Mills, Staff Reporters
A JAMAICAN-BORN British citizen has been named among four young men who blew themselves up in Britain's first suicide attacks last week which claimed the lives of 53 people.
The fourth suspected suicide bomber behind attacks in London has been identified as Lindsey Germaine, but there are conflicting reports from other international media sources that indicate the suspect may actually be named Germaine Morris Lindsay. He is thought to be responsible for the King's Cross/Russell Square underground bomb which resulted in 21 fatalities and hundreds of people being injured.
The suspect was also linked to a house in Aylesbury, about 40 miles (65 km) north-west of London, which was searched by police on Wednesday evening, media reports said. Police sources believe that the other three suicide bombers, all British Muslims of Pakistani origin, drove down from Leeds on Wednesday and may have stayed the night with Germaine at his home.
NOT OFFICIALLY NAMED
The men, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, and Germaine then drove the 20 miles to Luton to take a Thameslink train to London.
Yesterday, Mark Waller, spokesman for the British High Commission in Kingston, said that at this point, media reports were merely wild conjecture.
He added that: "The U.K. authorities have not officially named anyone. What they have said is that based on forensic evidence, this fourth bomber died in Russell Square. It is in the hands of the coroner now. We cannot make a positive ID. We cannot speculate as to who, and where that fourth person is from ... The metro police will release information tomorrow (today)."
In the absence of official reports, the international media scrambled to eke out information on the suspect. Most reports suggested that Germaine, believed to be in his 30s, lived with his partner, a white Englishwoman, and their young child. Ms. Lewthwaite had converted to Islam and always wore long flowing black gowns, neighbours reported. According to the Times.com website, the suspect is believed to have Islamicised his name after his religious conversion and to have called himself Jamal.
Checks by Gleaner reporters yesterday with families sharing the 'Germaine' surname proved futile, and one irritated man revealed that he had been swamped "by calls from English newspapers like the Sun and the Daily Mail from morning, and we don't know him, or want to know him".
Efforts to contact the president of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Mustafa Mohammed proved futile, but one high-ranking member who requested anonymity told The Gleaner that "Islam is a religion of peace, we do not agree with violence committed against innocent people". There are reportedly 4,000 practising Muslims in Jamaica.
"No, I'm not surprised that a young Jamaican male may be involved. People don't understand the Koran but there are clear verses that instruct Muslims to destroy the opponents of Allah. The new radical Islam is spreading all over... and it is spreading all over the world so it is not surprising that a Jamaican may be involved, " Lloyd Cooke, a lecturer at the Jamaica Bible College in Mandeville, told The Gleaner yesterday.
"Nationality has nothing to do with it, it has everything to do with conviction."
In the meantime, representatives of the British media have begun arriving on the island in earnest to cover this development. The Gleaner has been contacted by two such reporters so far, one from the Daily Mail and the other from the Sunday Mirror.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields, the former head of Scotland Yard's Special Branch International Anti-Terrorism Unit said he had been in touch with UK colleagues on the matter. He declined to comment on the bomber's identity adding that for operational reasons, "there is currently a media blackout ... but you can expect a statement from Scotland Yard in the next 24 hours."
In the midst of the media firestorm yesterday, members of the Jamaican community in the United Kingdom have expressed outrage and disgust over the association of a Jamaican with the series of suicide bombings in London last week Thursday. The recently established Jamaican Diaspora UK chapter stated that "the Jamaican community in the United Kingdom is distressed to learn through, press reports, which though unconfirmed, allege that someone of Jamaican origin is involved in the horrifying acts of terrorism that claimed so many innocent lives in London last week".
