AIRPORT terror suspect Khalid Ahmed has been moved to a Glasgow hospital under armed guard.
AIRPORT terror suspect Khalid Ahmed has been moved to a Glasgow hospital under armed guard.
The 27-year-old, who set fire to himself during the attack on Glasgow Airport, was transferred to a specialist burns unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the early hours of the morning.
A convoy of police cars and an ambulance whisked Ahmed, who sustained 90% burns to his head and body, from Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital.
I'll never forget burning man'A HERO off-duty cop has told how he hosed down the blazing Glasgow Airport terror suspect. Speaking for the first time about the incident, PC Stewart Ferguson said his instinct was to save Khalid Ahmed's life after he set himself on fire. The 40-year-old officer was at the airport to meet someone and arrived just minutes before the Jeep Cherokee smashed into the front doors. The dad-of-two said he had no regrets about dousing the suspect's boiler suit. PC Ferguson said: "One of the primary duties of a police officer is to preserve life, and it doesn't matter whose life that is. "It never entered my consciousness to walk away I would have been failing in my duty. "I knew he was one of the bad guys but that didn't change my opinion of what had to be done. "He was well ablaze - clothing, hair, skin - and from the attitude that he was in, lying on his back, as if he had resigned himself to death, I grabbed an extinguisher." Sergeant Torquil Campbell, 49, who also tackled the men, said he saw gas canisters in the Jeep and feared an explosion. He said: "I couldn't believe it had got there and was burning so fiercely. "I could hear bangs coming from the vehicle and realised it could blow up at any time. "I will never forget that burning man running towards me, lashing out." It's thought a £5 safety value fitted on every Calor gas cylinder sold in the UK may have prevented dozens of deaths in the Glasgow attack and the two failed car bombings in London. |
Health chiefs said the Lebanese medic remains in a critical condition in intensive care today.
Doctors have insisted the transfer decision was made on purely clinical grounds. He is believed to have been too ill to move earlier.
There was no obvious signs of extra security at the GRI today, but the suspect is believed to be under armed guard.
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "The decision to move the patient was made on entirely clinical grounds."
Meanwhile, reports today claimed Dr Ahmed had tried to get a job in Australia prior to moving to the UK.
Officials in Western Australia claim the suspect was turned down by authorities because his medical qualifications were not up to standard.
Another of the eight suspects in the attempted attacks on Glasgow and London, Sabeel Ahmed, was also denied entry but none of the doctors were turned down for security reasons.
All eight people work for or have links with the NHS.
One of the suspects, Dr Bilal Abdullah, "felt pain" over the war in his native Iraq, his friend Hicham Kwieder, of the Cambridge Muslim Welfare Society has said.
A review of NHS recruitment procedures will report quickly, Health Secretary Alan Johnson has said.
Meanwhile, tests on the cars used in the London bids revealed the suspects had planned to trigger the blast with syringes.
Six of the suspects are being held in London and one in Australia.
Of the London six, five men are either doctors or trainee doctors. The sixth is a woman lab worker.
Detectives have until tomorrow to question the six in London while officers in Brisbane are questioning Dr Mohammed Haneef.
Australian police launched raids today in connection with the plots, seizing computers from two hospitals.
Muslim ads denounce terror
MUSLIM groups in the UK today launched a campaign to distance themselves from terrorists.
A coalition called Muslims United has taken out adverts in national newspapers condemning the attacks as contrary to the teachings of Islam.
Borrowing a phrase from British opponents of the Iraq war, the campaign is dubbed: "Not in our name."
The adverts praise the "courageous" emergency services and the Government's "calm and proportionate" reaction to the crisis. They carry a quotation from the Koran reading: "Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed the whole of mankind.
"And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind."
The adverts claim the backing of an "alphabet" of supporters - from accountants to youth workers.
Members of Muslims United include the Conservative Muslim Forum, Islamic Relief and the Islamic Society of Britain.
