'Finsbury mosque recruited terrorists'

It played a key role in recruiting suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, according to files released from the Guantanamo prison.

Finsbury Park mosque in north London, which had been raided a few years ago by over 150 armed police officers, played a key role in recruiting suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists, according to documents released from the Guantanamo Bay prison.

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The search in 2003 had uncovered forged passports, CS gas, knives, guns, tents and blank-firing guns.

Richard Reid, the shoe bomber who tried to blow up an American passenger airliner flying from Paris to New York, had also frequented the mosque. Three of the four London suicide bombers of July 7 also worshipped there.

The mosque is mentioned frequently in the 5,000 pages of previously secret testimony taken from more than 300 prisoners at the Bay prison. According to reports, in one document the mosque, which was literally the preaching ground of radical cleric Abu Hamza, was described as "a known Al-Qaeda facility where known terrorists were recruited".

It was also a stopping place for militants from Europe who were on their way to fight a "holy war" in Afghanistan.