Abdul Waheed Majeed

Abdul Waheed Majeed
Born1972 (1972)
Crawley, West Sussex, England
DiedFebruary 7, 2014(2014-02-07) (aged 41–42)
Aleppo, Syria
Other nameAbu Suleiman al-Baritani
Alma materHazelwick School
OrganizationAl-Nusra Front
Known forFirst British suicide bomber in the Syrian civil war
Children3

Abdul Waheed Majeed (1972 – 2014) was a British-Pakistani man from Crawley in West Sussex who carried out a suicide bombing at the gates of a prison in Aleppo, Syria on February 6, 2014. He was a member of Al-Nusra Front, the tenth British national to die in the Syrian civil war, and the first British national to carry out a suicide attack in Syria.[1]

Life in Britain

Majeed, who went by his middle name, was born and raised in England, the son of Pakistani immigrants. He had one brother and one sister.[2] He attended Hazelwick School as a boy.[3] He reportedly took his Muslim faith seriously.[4]

As an adult, he entered into an arranged marriage with a woman from Pakistan.[4] Before his departure for Syria, he lived on Martyrs Avenue in Langley Green. Coincidentally, Roy Whiting, a notorious child murderer, had previously lived in that same house.[3] Majeed was an electrician and plumber and worked with Britain's Highways Agency.[2][4] He attended Langley Green Mosque and was also a member of another mosque.[3][5] At the time of his death, Majeed's two sons were in their teens, and he had a twelve-year-old daughter.[6][5]

The radical Islamist cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad called Majeed "a very dear brother" and said he had been his student and driver. Bakri stated Majeed had been a member of his organization, Al-Muhajiroun, from the time of the group's establishment in 1996 until it was banned in 2004.[7] Majeed's brother stated Majeed's links to Bakri and Al-Muhajiroun had been exaggerated.[8] He stated his brother had chauffeured Bakri a few times and attended some talks organized by Al-Muhajiroun, but stopped going because he thought their ideas were too extremist.[4]

Departure for Syria and death

In July 2013, Majeed and a friend left Britain for Syria to be drivers on an humanitarian aid convoy organized by a Birmingham-based Muslim charity, Children in Deen.[9] After their arrival, the two men stayed to help refugees at the Turkish-Syrian border. Other members of the Langley Green Mosque went to Syria in December 2013 and met Majeed, who was working in a refugee camp at the time, and tried to persuade him to come home, but he refused.[9] Majeed's friend returned to the UK in January 2014, and later said he didn't know how Majeed came to be recruited by Al-Nusra Front.[2]

Majeed had never been to the Middle East before this.[3] He called his family regularly after he left, and sent them photos of himself posing with refugees.[2][10] The last time he spoke to them, his brother stated their conversation was routine.[2] His family had wanted him to return home for some time, as they thought he had fulfilled his religious and moral duty to help in Syria.[11] Majeed's father asked him when he would be returning home, and he said he would be back in April. Six days later, he carried out the suicide bombing.[4] He was 41 years old at the time of his death.[12]

Al-Nusra Front released a video showing Majeed, whom thery referred to by the nom de guerre Abu Suleiman al-Baritani, standing near an armored dump truck packed with explosives, talking to other jihadists. When he was asked to make a statement, Majeed declined and said, "It should come from the heart and I can't do it."[4][13] The video showed the dump truck driving towards the prison, the sounds of gunfire breaking out, and a blast as the truck exploded.[13][14] A friend of his in Syria wrote on his Twitter page that the attack had been carried out in order to liberate the prisoners.[15] Hundreds of prisoners reportedly escaped and 300 people were killed in the firefight between Al-Nusra fighters and Syrian government forces.[4]

Majeed's uncle stated he had never shown any signs of extremist beliefs before his departure from England, and that the family would not have let him go if they had known he was going to carry out a suicide attack.[12] Majeed's brother believes he became radicalized by reports of the torture, starvation and executions that had occurred in the prisons under Bashar al-Assad's regime, and that this was what prompted him to join Al-Nusra Front. He said, "We feel that if he hadn't got a beard and was white and wearing a uniform with a crown on his arm with a regiment number, he would have been awarded the posthumous Victoria Cross. Instead Waheed is called a terrorist." His brother said Majeed's children felt "no shame about what he did" because he had "martyred himself for people he did not know."[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The man from Martyrs Avenue who became a suicide bomber in Syria". BBC News. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Penhaul, Karl (2014-09-09). "How did Briton become suicide bomber in Syria?". CNN. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Family shocked by news devoted Crawley father is being linked to suicide bomber". The Argus. 2014-02-12. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ramesh, Randeep (2014-07-26). "My brother, the suicide bomber: why British men go to Syria". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  5. 1 2 "Syria: what do we know about suspected UK suicide bomber?". The Week. 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  6. ↑ "UK suicide bomber in Syria named as Abdul Waheed Majid". BBC News. 2014-02-12. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  7. ↑ Siddique, Haroon (2014-02-13). "Suspected British suicide bomber was my student, says radical cleric". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Syria bomber from Crawley was a 'hero' says family". BBC News. 2014-03-11. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  9. 1 2 Gardham, Duncan; Coghlan, Tom; Evans, Mike; Hamilton, Fiona (2014-02-17). "Suicide bomber's last minute charity cover". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  10. ↑ Soni, Darshna (2014-02-14). "Relaxed and smiling: suspected British bomber in Syria". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  11. ↑ "British suicide bomber 'a hero, not a terrorist', says brother". The Independent. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  12. 1 2 Malik, Shiv (2014-02-12). "UK police search house amid claims Briton staged Syria suicide bombing". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  13. 1 2 "Crawley Suicide Bomb Suspect In YouTube Film". Sky News. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  14. ↑ Lundquist, Bill Roggio and Lisa (2014-02-14). "Jihadists release video of British suicide bomber in Syria". FDD's Long War Journal. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  15. ↑ "The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center". 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
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