Bomb Plot Suspects Are Foreign Physicians

Police said military bomb disposal experts conducted a controlled explosion Monday of a suspicious car parked at Royal Alexandra Hospital. Located two miles from the Glasgow Airport, the hospital is treating one of the airport attackers, who was badly burned. The hospital also was the workplace of one of the suspects.

Police have been aided by the large amount of evidence available, including cellphones found in the Mercedes sedans in London, according to a British security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The investigation's fast pace became clear with the disclosure that minutes before the airport attack, police contacted Daniel Gardiner, whose real estate company had arranged the rental of a home near Glasgow that police soon searched. Authorities reportedly had found cellphone records linking the house to the failed London car bombs.

Gardiner told reporters that he had rented the house to a "professional" man who passed a credit check and was "one of our better tenants."

One of the Glasgow Airport attackers was Bilal Abdulla, who worked as a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, according to news reports. According to Britain's General Medical Council, which maintains records of all registered medical practitioners in the country, Abdulla earned his medical degree in Baghdad in 2004 and began working in Britain in August 2006.

Mohammed Asha was arrested late Saturday with his wife after police cars forced their vehicle to a stop on a highway in central England. Records show that Asha earned his medical degree in Jordan in 2004 and began practicing in Britain in March 2005. His family in Jordan told reporters that Asha, 26, is training to be a neurosurgeon, liked Britain and had no ties with extremist groups.

Officials at North Staffordshire Hospital, where Asha reportedly works, said they were cooperating with the police investigation. Asha worked from July 2005 until July 2006 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford in central England, according to Adrian Osborne, a spokesman for the trust that operates both hospitals.

A third doctor, reportedly from Bangalore, India, was reported to be in police custody after being arrested in Liverpool late Saturday. The Muslim News, a British newspaper, reported on its Web site that the doctor's detention might have been a case of mistaken identity. A colleague told the Muslim News that the doctor might have been detained because he was using the cellphone and Internet account of a colleague who moved to Australia a year ago.

Mohammed Shafiq, 28, spokesman for the Ramadhan Foundation, a leading Muslim youth organization, said it was "absolutely baffling" that doctors -- professionals with good jobs and income -- would be involved in violent extremism. He said Muslim leaders have been most concerned about the radicalization of disaffected and unemployed youth, and they have been urging the government to help them find jobs.

Despite that widespread perception in Britain, one British security official said that although a physician would be the highest-educated bombing suspect arrested in recent plots in Britain, suspects in previous cases have ranged from university students to "social misfits and troublemakers."

"We've learned not to pigeonhole people socially at all," the security official said. "You can't really pigeonhole extremists into social or educational classes."

Security analysts said only a small number of people with academic degrees have been arrested in Europe or the United States on terrorism charges in recent years. But they pointed out that al-Qaeda's leadership ranks have been traditionally dominated by well-educated ideologues.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of the network, is an Egyptian-trained physician. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged chief planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T University. The lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, studied architecture. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was educated as a civil engineer.

More unusual, the analysts said, is that all seven suspects seized in Britain are reported to be foreign citizens who moved to the country relatively recently. Analysts said that virtually all suspected Islamic terrorists in Europe in recent years have been longtime residents.

According to a study released in January by Bakker, the Dutch analyst, more than 95 percent of Islamic militants accused or charged with committing terrorism in Europe from September 2001 to September 2006 had resided in Europe for at least several years and were radicalized while living there.

While the majority were of Arabic descent and had emigrated, about a third were born and raised in Europe. "There have been very few who came here from outside Europe to commit crimes," Bakker said.

Correspondent Mary Jordan in Stoke-on-Trent, England, and special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.