Sunnis condemn attacks

BIRMINGHAM, England — Britain’s largest Sunni Muslim group yesterday issued a binding religious edict — a fatwa — condemning the July 7 suicide attacks on the London transport system as the work of a “perverted ideology.”

In the northern city of Leeds, which has been a focus of the investigation into the bombings, six men were arrested under Britain’s counterterrorism law. West Yorkshire police said the men were not thought to be involved in the bombings, but offered no further details on why they were arrested.

“At this stage, these arrests are not being linked to the incidents in London. However, we are working closely with officers from the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism branch as part of this inquiry,” another police spokeswoman said.

The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Koran, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.

“Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to hell,” said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman. “What happened in London can be seen as a sacrilege. It is a sin to take your life or the life of others.”

The council said Muslims should not use “atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq” to justify attacks.

The bombings in London killed 55 persons in three subway trains and a double-decker bus.

“We equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology,” Mufti Qadri said.

Also yesterday, government officials dismissed claims that lax attitudes allowed home-grown suicide bombers to develop.

The Sunday Times reported that one suspected bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, was investigated last year by MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence service, but was not regarded as a threat to national security or subsequently put under surveillance.

MI5 began evaluating Khan, a Briton of Pakistani ancestry, during an inquiry that focused on a suspected plot to explode a large truck bomb outside a target in London thought to be a nightclub in Soho, the newspaper said. The private inquiry reportedly evaluated hundreds of potential suspects.

The Metropolitan Police and a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair declined comment.

The bombings have prompted the government to propose new legislation outlawing “indirect incitement” of terrorism — including public praise for those who carry out attacks.