The families of three of the Yorkshiremen who killed themselves and 52 innocent people in the July 7 2005 attacks are still looking for answers 10 years on, an imam has said.
Qari Asim said the community was left in “shock and disbelief” after discovering the suicide bombers were from Yorkshire.
And the imam of the Makkah Mosque in Leeds said questions were still being asked over how three seemingly ordinary, friendly young men could carry out such atrocities.
Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer both grew up in the Beeston area of the city, while Hassib Hussain was from Holbeck. Khan moved to live in Dewsbury.
The three men travelled from Leeds and, with a fourth man Huddersfield student Jermaine Lindsay, detonated bombs across the transport system in London.
Mr Asim, whose mosque is in the Hyde Park area of Leeds, said: “I didn’t know the three perpetrators, who came from Leeds and committed the atrocities on 7/7, but I have known the families and everyone that knew those three young men, they were saying they were like ordinary young men, they were gentlemen, they were good to talk to, they were very friendly people effectively.
“And I think that’s the key challenge that makes it even worse for the Muslim community and the ordinary British citizens, how can three young men, living their ordinary lives, become so radicalised? Can be so motivated that they can take their own lives but also take the lives of others?”
He added: “Ten years on and the Muslim community, and the wider community, we are all still looking for answers, we are all still trying to find out what are the factors and what is the evidence that leads to radicalisation”.
