Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: www.expressindia.com
Date: May 4, 2003
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=21061
Omar Khan Sharif, a British citizen
who fled the scene of a suicide bombing in Israeli capital Tel Aviv after
failing to detonate his explosives unlike his associate, was of Pakistani
origin.
Sharif failed to detonate his explosives
and escaped after scuffling with bystanders, seconds after Asif Mohammed
Hanif, 21, also a British citizen, blew himself up killing three people
and injuring many others at a Tel Aviv cafe on Wednesday.
Sharif, who could possibly be hiding
in Tel Aviv, is of Pakistani origin, official sources said on the condition
of anonymity. Ha'aretz daily also said in an analysis that "an important
detail that has emerged so far is that one of the terrorists was of Pakistani
descent, although both men were British citizens.
"This indicates that even if Hamas,
as it claims, was responsible for the attack that killed three, it may
have been aided by an international Muslim terrorist groups that is active
among Pakistanis. If so, the connection was probably made through Hizbollah,"
it said.
Hebrew daily Ma'ariv said Sharif,
who lived at 33 Readon Hill Street in Derby in the centre of England, belonged
to a family originally from Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir. Sharif, whose parents
died a few years ago, was born in Derby where he lived with his wife and
two daughters, it said.
Sharif's Derby house is now empty
and police there are still searching for his wife, sister and daughters
who disappeared after his involvement in the suicide bombing became known,
Ma'ariv said.
