Iraqi teen convicted of attempted murder for London Underground bombing

The attack on a train car in September 2017 injured 30 people.

March 16, 2018, 10:21 AM

LONDON -- An Iraqi teenager whose homemade bomb exploded on a London Underground train in 2017 has been convicted of attempted murder. He faces life in jail.

Ahmed Hassan, 18, carried out the attack on Sept. 15, 2017. Thirty people were injured in the blast.

In 2016 Hassan had been referred to the British government’s deradicalization program, according to the BBC.

Hassan's improvised device was made from triacetone triperoxide, a volatile and powerful explosive.

The device was packed with knives, bolts and other sharp metal objects. Hassan had packed hundreds of grams of the explosive into a Tupperware container and a vase, concealed inside a shopping bag. It partially detonated, releasing a fireball in the train car that injured dozens of commuters.

CCTV footage shows Hassan leaving the bag on the train two stops before it exploded.

A handout picture, released by the Metropolitan police service on March 16, 2018, shows components recovered from an explosive device left by Iraqi asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan on a London Underground train at Parsons Green tube station on Sept. 15, 2017.
A handout picture, released by the Metropolitan police service on March 16, 2018, shows components recovered from an explosive device left by Iraqi asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan on a London Underground train at Parsons Green tube station on Sept. 15, 2017.
PHOTO: A handout picture, released by the Metropolitan police service on March 16, 2018, shows an empty London Underground train carriage after an explosive device was detonated on Sept. 15, 2017.
A handout picture, released by the Metropolitan police service on March 16, 2018, shows an empty London Underground train carriage after an explosive device was detonated on Sept. 15, 2017. Ahmed Hassan, an 18-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker was today found guilty on March 16, 2018 of attempted murder over the botched bombing of a rush-hour London Underground train that injured 30 people.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan said it was “a matter of luck that the device did not function as intended.”

Hassan's lawyer told the jury that it was not his intention to kill anyone and Hassan had only wanted attention. Hassan pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder.

The jury was told that Hassan had arrived in the U.K. as an unaccompanied child asylum-seeker, traveling to Britain in a truck after spending time in a migrant camp in northern France.

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