Shoe bomber 'recognised from al Qaeda camps'

US intelligence officials are continuing today to investigate links between Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist group and the British man accused of trying to blow up a transatlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

Prisoners under US control in Afghanistan said they recognised Richard Reid, also known as Abdel Rahim, as having attended al Qaeda training camps and remembered him as being "highly strung".

Reid worshipped at a mosque in Brixton where a religious leader warned that he could be the first of hundreds of disaffected British Muslims who have been lured into terrorism.

Abdul Haqq Baker, 35, chairman of the Brixton Mosque, said Reid was an unlikely terrorist and was more probably being used as a guinea pig to see if the chosen method of attack worked.

Mr Baker also said Reid may have known Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan origin who lived in Brixton. The US authorities believe Moussaoui was the "20th hijacker" and had been due to board one of the 11 September jets.

He said there was a period at the end of 1998 when the two men attended the Brixton mosque and may have come into contact with each other.

Referring to Reid, who is now under suicide watch in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Mr Baker said: "He was not one to instigate such a crime. The way he did this shows his gullibility. I believe he was sent as a tester. We have to believe there are more to come. London is a huge hub for this kind of extremism."

Reid was wrestled and tied up by staff and passengers on a Paris to Miami American Airlines flight on 22 December, after apparently trying to bring down the plane by igniting explosives in his shoe.

Reid, a London-born petty criminal with convictions for mugging, appeared in court in Boston on Monday accused of assaulting flight attendants.

Mr Baker said the Brixton mosque had been threatened by Muslim fanatics. "The extremists claim they seek asylum here against persecution when, often enough, they are escaping the result of their terrorist acts and rhetoric," he said.

He said that the first warning signs about Reid came when he started to wear combat fatigues and began heated arguments with other worshippers.

"Mr Reid first arrived at the mosque around the end of 1995 and the beginning of 1996," he said. "He had recently been converted to Islam while in prison. He was amicable and affable when he joined.

"He was just someone who wanted to learn, there was no indication or suspicion he was linked to terrorist organisations. We didn't have any worries about him until towards the end when he left in 1998. He would ask us why we didn't agree that we were at war with the West. We explained that it is not our belief."

Speaking about Moussaoui, Mr Baker said: "We saw a change in him too. He became increasingly angry and arrogant and he would wear military gear."

Asked why he thought extremists had targeted his mosque, Mr Baker replied: "I think they attempted to do that here because we are multi-cultural. The average age is 30, which means they are young and vulnerable and sensitive. They are looking for an identity. I would say Reid was very, very impressionable."