UK bombers 'posed as pacifists'

Omar Sharif's device apparently failed to go off

Two British suicide bombers posed as UK pacifists before they attacked a busy Israeli bar in which three people died, the Old Bailey has heard.

Voluntary worker Enrico Marcandalli said in a statement Omar Sharif and Asil Hanif were acting suspiciously when they met in Israel in April 2003.

Hanif died in the Hamas-sponsored attack on Tel Aviv bar Mike's Place.

Sharif was found dead days later. His sister, wife and brother deny failing to disclose information about terrorism.

Eyewitness accounts

In accounts read out on day five of the trial, eyewitnesses reported seeing severed limbs and being covered with victims' blood and flesh after the blast.

Galan Beit Latom, thrown to the floor by the explosion, recalled: "I was looking for who I could help. I could see a body and some flesh from the top half of someone's body hanging down."

I breathed into her mouth to slow down her breathing as she was hyperventilating - that was the last time I saw her alive Mike's Place co-owner Gal Gantzman

Bomber Hanif's body was blown into four parts and his head left hanging from a trellis above the bar entrance.

"I did not get injured, but the flesh of the terrorist and the injured flew on me," schoolteacher Dina Volfson said.

Asaf Hellman recalled "a loud booming noise...I was wearing a black sweater which had lots of bits of flesh and blood on it".

Mike's Place co-owner Gal Gantzman spotted one of his waitresses with an arm missing.

"I breathed into her mouth to slow down her breathing as she was hyperventilating. That was the last time I saw her alive," Mr Gantzman said.

Claims

The crown alleges that Sharif's wife Tahira Tabassum, 28, of Northumberland Street, Derby, and businessman brother Zahid, 37, of Upper Dale Road, Derby, knew his intentions but did not do anything to stop him.

The prosecution also claims Sharif's sister Parveen, 36, a teacher of Breedon Hill Road, Derby, also incited him to commit an act of terrorism.

Mr Marcandalli said the pair had wanted to join him and other volunteer workers in Israel and the Palestine territories on a trip to the Gaza strip.

Teacher Parveen Sharif denies inciting her brother to bomb the bar

"We expressed perplexity about the behaviour of the two young Britons. They appeared to be acting suspiciously.

"They were going around in a vague manner without any organisation to support them or independent references. Someone expressed suspicions they were infiltrators."

Eventually they all went in a taxi to the crossing point, but Sharif and Hanif crossed into Gaza independently, his statement said.

Mr Marcandalli said they were amazed when they later learnt the pair were suicide bombers.

Earlier the court heard that Hanif and Sharif had struck at the Tel Aviv bar on 29 April.

Hanif's concealed device exploded, but Sharif's apparently failed to go off and he fled.

Authorities later discovered his dead body in the sea.

The trial continues.