{"id":87673,"date":"2019-04-25T15:06:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T22:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87673"},"modified":"2019-04-25T15:06:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T22:06:18","slug":"sri-lanka-terrorist-left-for-work-without-saying-goodbye-to-wife-then-blew-himself-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/25\/sri-lanka-terrorist-left-for-work-without-saying-goodbye-to-wife-then-blew-himself-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka terrorist left &#8216;for work&#8217; without saying goodbye to wife then blew himself up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14605999.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_file.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohammed as boy<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Rowan Griffiths)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Get the biggest&nbsp;Daily News&nbsp;stories by emailSubscribeSee our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/privacy-policy\/\">privacy notice<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/communicatoremail.com\/F\/QVgi9PbuQPTrjCOF~PhHv_\/\">More newsletters<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The wife of the UK-educated Sri Lanka suicide bomber has told how he betrayed his family to join Islamic State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Devastated Shifana Mohamed, 30, last saw Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed \u2013 who attended Kingston University \u2013 when he left home for Friday prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The privately educated aircraft \u00adengineer was so keen to hide his deadly mission he did not even say goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He left behind his six-month-old baby boy, two sons aged six and four, and their \u00adthree-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jameel set off like any other day\u201d to meet the seven other bombers, who killed 253 people, a revised toll after officials said morgues had been overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had no idea until the police turned up at my door. I was in complete shock,\u201d she told her dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was a loving father, and just went off as usual on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;But we never saw him again. He has left me and his children behind. It is hard to take in what he has done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">READ MORE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/politics\/breaking-uk-government-urge-tourists-14591606\">Sri Lanka bombings: Brits warned NOT to travel to country as fears grow of new attacks<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14605945.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Screen-Shot-2019-04-25-at-140811JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed seen on CCTV<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Sky News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14606731.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Gravediggers-work-at-the-site-of-a-mass-burial-in-Negombo.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Gravediggers work at the site of a mass burial in Negombo, Sri Lanka<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: REUTERS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The family spoke of their devastation as Britons were warned against all but essential travel\u201d to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Foreign Office\u2019s advice could lead to thousands of holidaymakers leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jameel\u2019s family showed photos of him playing with friends and animals when he was around 12 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have watched in horror as police, then special force officers arrived at their home in affluent Wellampitiya, Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They searched the property before returning to take heartbroken Shafina into custody with their baby son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was quiet, reserved, just a normal guy who was a very caring father to the kids,\u201d said her dad who did not wish to be named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last time we saw him, he went off without a goodbye. He did not leave a suicide note.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14606305.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_file2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Another childhood picture<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Rowan Griffiths)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jameel, 36, studied at Kingston \u00adUniversity in London, named by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015 as one of four universities which he alleged hosted the most events with extremist speakers. Kingston denied the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His sister believes he was \u00adradicalised abroad, notably his three-year postgraduate course in Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jameel was \u00adinvestigated by Australian security over links to IS recruiter Neil Prakash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The probe was triggered by \u00adintelligence that linked him to counter-terrorism targets, including Prakash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He started to grow his beard to show his devotion to his faith, praying five times a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there was no hint of his radical views, or devotion to extremist Zahran Hashim, the suspected mastermind behind the Easter Sunday massacres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jameel was meant to blow up the Taj Hotel in Colombo. When his device failed, he moved to the Tropical Inn Hotel. It is believed he set off his bomb by mistake, killing one other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Mirror visited his home, Shifana\u2019s dad, 57, said: He betrayed his faith, his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;My daughter fell in love with him 10 years ago when he rented a room at my home. I wish she\u2019d never laid eyes on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we had known anything, we would have told police. He was quiet, secretive, with no friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He would say \u2018mind your own business\u2019 when even we asked him about work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">READ MORE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/world-news\/breaking-sri-lanka-bombings-childhood-14579313\">Sri Lanka bombings: Childhood face of British-educated boy who became terrorist<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14607022.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Screen-Shot-2019-04-25-at-135639JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>The smaller guest house Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed targeted<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article14606232.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_SRI-LANKA-ATTACKS-CHILDREN.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Anusha Kumari 43, wife of a St Sebastian&#8217;s Church suicide blast victim Dulip Appuhami, 46, reacts as she cries in her house in Negombo<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He was wealthy, provided for his children. He\u2019d go away from Friday to Monday, we had no idea where.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had no clue that he was becoming more obsessed with religion. He was a caring dad, but his kids are without a father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in 1982 with six siblings, Jameel was from a privileged background like many of the bombers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His father had a tea business before he died 10 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He fell in love with Shifana, who came from a meat-trading family, when he returned from Britain around 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They had a child in Australia, where Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a bomber lived with his wife and child there on a student visa, leaving in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his wife spoke English with their children, who do not speak native Sinhalese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His sister Samsul Hidaya said he became deeply, deeply \u00adreligious\u201d while he was in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He came back a different man,\u201d she said. He had a long beard, had lost his sense of humour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He was serious, withdrawn, he would not smile at anyone he didn\u2019t know, let alone laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was a music lover. Before he died he wouldn\u2019t let his children listen to music and never said a friendly word to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get the biggest&nbsp;Daily News&nbsp;stories by emailSubscribeSee our&nbsp;privacy noticeMore newsletters The wife of the UK-educated Sri Lanka suicide bomber has told how he betrayed his family to join Islamic State. Devastated Shifana Mohamed, 30, last saw Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed \u2013 who attended Kingston University \u2013 when he left home for Friday prayers. The privately educated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}