Shoe-bomb suspect possibly knew suspected terrorist

LONDON -- The man who allegedly tried to blow up a jetliner with a shoe bomb joined a London mosque about the same time as Zacarias Moussaoui, who is charged in the United States as a conspirator in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the mosque's leader said Wednesday.

Abdul Haqq Baker, chairman of the Brixton Mosque, also said he doubted Richard C. Reid could have formulated a bombing plan on his own.

"I definitely believe there are individuals behind him and that he was a test and they were watching to see if he would succeed," Baker said.

He described Reid -- also known as Abdel Rahim -- as an impressionable young convert to Islam who was led astray by "extreme elements." He said he feared there could be dozens more potential suicide bombers in Britain.

'A lot more'

"If they have got the likes of Rahim, there are a lot more and we are very concerned about that," Baker said.

Baker told British Broadcasting Corp. there could be "at least 100 or more individuals" prepared to blow themselves up for their cause.

In Washington, two U.S. government officials said Wednesday that some low-level al-Qaida members captured in Afghanistan were shown Reid's picture and recognized him, saying he trained at Osama bin Laden's terrorist training camps in the country.

However, the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the claims had not been verified. The prisoners could be wrong or lying to confuse or gain favor with their interrogators, the officials cautioned.

During an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Saturday, Reid allegedly tried to touch a lighted match to a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. Two flight attendants and several passengers overpowered him and used belts to strap him into his seat, then two doctors sedated him with drugs from the plane's medical kit.

Authorities said the shoes were found to be concealing an explosive strong enough to cause possibly disastrous damage to a jetliner.

Meanwhile, CNN reported Wednesday that a Paris airport security firm says it warned French authorities on two different days that Reid should be screened further, but authorities cleared him to fly.

Lior Zucker, head of ICTS, said his security officers recommended Friday and Saturday that French authorities take a closer look at Reid. ICTS does security screening for American Airlines in France and other European countries.

Zucker would not go into details about why his agents were suspicious of Reid, CNN said.

Extreme views

Baker said Reid converted to Islam while serving a jail sentence and approached the south London mosque after his release. He said Reid at first seemed a normal, street-wise London youth.

"He was someone out of prison who wanted to learn. There was no indication or suspicion he was linked with terrorist organizations," Baker said.

He said Reid later developed extreme views.

Reid joined the mosque in 1998 at about the same time as Moussaoui, and the two may have met during the part of that year Moussaoui participated at the mosque, Baker said.

Moussaoui "made his more radical beliefs known and as a result, in the end, his beliefs were not welcome," Baker said.

A small mosque located in a row of Victorian houses, Brixton has a young, multicultural membership that includes a large number of converts. It teaches "basic, mainstream orthodox" Islam, but has attracted some "extreme elements" who targeted enthusiastic converts like Reid, Baker said.

Baker suggested Reid might have had contact with more radical mosques such as the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, home of a militant Egyptian-born cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri.

Al-Masri said he had no knowledge of Reid. "I don't know about the guy, actually," he told the BBC.

Reid has been charged with intimidation or assault of a flight crew and could face 20 years in prison. He is being held in jail under suicide watch pending a psychological examination.

The FBI has said more charges are likely.

Investigators are still attempting to confirm his identity. The Times of London and a French police official have identified Reid as a British petty criminal with an English mother and a Jamaican father.

Richard C. Reid is the name listed on a British passport issued Dec. 7 by the British embassy in Belgium. George Fergusson, consul general at the British Consulate in Boston, said Tuesday that the passport appeared to be valid.

The Times said Reid was born in Bromley, southeast London, in 1973 and had served several jail sentences for street crimes such as mugging.

Scotland Yard said it would not comment on whether the man had a criminal record. But a French police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Reid was apparently known to British police for petty theft.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press reporter John J. Lumpkin in Washington contributed to this story.