http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/30/six-plead-guilty-plot-edlSix would-be terrorists have pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on a far-right English Defence League demonstration with a home-made bomb, guns, knives and a machete.
The men, all from the West Midlands, had planned to target EDL supporters who were holding a rally in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on 30 June last year. Police believe the mission was only abandoned when the group turned up after the EDL demonstration had finished.
Omar Khan, 28, Mohammed Saud, 22, Jewel Uddin, 27, Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 24, pleaded guilty at Woolwich crown court to engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism. A sixth man, Mohammed Hasseen, 23, pleaded guilty to the same offence and possessing a document likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
All the defendants, except Hasseen, had travelled in two cars from Birmingham to Dewsbury on the afternoon of 30 June with an arsenal of weapons hidden in holdalls in the boot of one of the cars.
Top row, from left: Omar Khan, Jewel Uddin, Mohammed Hasseen. Second row: Anzal Hussain, Mohammed Saud, Zohaib Ahmed. Photograph: West Midlands police/PA
They also had 10 A4 printouts of a document addressed to David Cameron and the Queen that set out in chilling terms their determination to take revenge on the "enemies of Allah" – the "English Drunkards League".
It stated: "We love death more than you love life … What we did today was a direct retaliation of your insulting of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) & also in retaliation of your crusade against Islam/Muslims on a global scale. It is of the greatest honour for us to do what we did."
My print copy has "today is a day of retaliation, especially for your blasphemy of Allah and his messenger", from commentary supporting article by Matthew Taylor.