Suspected suicide bomber: ‘I’ll see you in heaven mum’

Kabir Ahmed, who is reported to have died while carrying out a suicide bombing in Iraq, did what he thought was right by going abroad, the family member told Home Affairs Correspondent Darshna Soni.

“Islam means peace, it’s not right. Whatever he did, he must have done what he felt was right to do.

“The family gave him some money a few weeks before [he left], they thought he was going help his friends. [They thought] he was helping kids out there.”

‘Iraq suicide bombing’

There has been no official confirmation of the death of Ahmed, also known as Abu Sammyh Al Brittani. However, his family member told me the family had confirmation on Sunday.

Islamic State (IS) militants named him as being among the bombers who killed a senior Iraqi police official in Baiji, north of Baghdad. He was killed along with seven police officers and 15 people who were wounded.

The family member added: “I don’t know if it is right, or was he pleasing Allah? I wish I had known. I was thinking he must be brave, [he] must have a heart of stone.”

‘Hate crime’

In an interview before his death, Kabir Ahmed said he had decided to fight jihad abroad while serving a 15-month sentence for a hate crime in which he told revellers at a gay rights parade: “We hope you die of Aids.”

The interview, featured in an internet podcast posted in June, offered Ahmed a platform to spout his hatred of western life.

The family member said after coming out of prison “Something deep down in his heart [changed him]. His level of talk was different, he wouldn’t talk to women, he wouldn’t look in your eyes.”

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