21/7 suspects 'armed with spears'

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Two of the alleged 21 July bombers armed themselves with homemade spears to attack police who came to arrest them, Woolwich Crown Court has heard.

Ramzi Mohammed and Muktar Said Ibrahim were poised with the weapons at a west London flat eight days after the alleged failed attacks, the jury heard.

Mr Mohammed denied this, but admitted making one spear for "martial arts".

The two are among six men who all deny conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions on London public transport.

'Ready for fight'

Mr Mohammed, 25, and Mr Ibrahim, 29, were arrested by armed police on 29 July, after police officers threw CS gas canisters into the flat.

Max Hill, prosecuting, said: "You were there armed with a spear, weren't you? (Ibrahim) had the other spear didn't he?

"You were in the sitting room, you were ready for a fight that morning, weren't you? You were ready to repel all borders should the police make their entry.

"You were immobilised by tear gas and that, if anything, is perhaps all that stopped you using your spears."

Mr Mohammed denied the allegations, but admitted making one of the weapons which he said he used for "martial arts".

The alleged Oval Tube bomber said three or four weeks before 21 July, 2005, he used kitchen knives, a mop handle and a shoelace to make a two-bladed spear.

Mr Hill asked: "Did you play fight at martial arts after he had made his spear?"

Mr Mohammed replied: "No."

Mr Mohammed told the court that when he left the London flat on July 29 the spears were under the radiator in the kitchen and not in the sitting room where they were later photographed by police.

The accused are Mr Mohammed, of North Kensington, west London; Mr Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Mr Ibrahim, 29, from Stoke Newington, north London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London; and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, of no fixed address.