Shehzad Tanweer

Tanweer's religious credentials as a serious Islamic extremist were cast in a questionable light when, in 2011, evidence emerged that he had a 'secret girlfriend' with whom he had been intimately involved until the very end, for a period of three years beginning in 2002. This evidence seems to cast Tanweer in a somewhat contradictory light, as sex outside of marriage is deeply frowned upon in even the most liberal Islamic circles, being assigned the label of a major sin in traditional Islamic Jurisprudence."

On 6 July 2006, a video statement by Tanweer was broadcast by Al-Jazeera. In the video, which included remarks by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Tanweer said:

Police have confirmed that Khan and Tanweer went on a two-hour rafting trip together on 4 June 2005 at the National Whitewater Centre in Snowdonia National Park in Wales. Forensic evidence found in rucksacks after the abortive 21 July London attacks has linked those attacks to a second group of young men of Asian appearance who booked a rafting trip there on the same day as Tanweer and Khan

Relatives in Pakistan have said that Tanweer had boasted of wanting to die as a "holy warrior" and that he was enamoured with Osama bin Laden. They noted that incidents such as the Qur'an desecration controversy of 2005 had "always been in his mind". Tanweer's body was buried at the shrine of a local Islamic saint in Tanweer's ancestral village in Samundari, Pakistan on 27 October 2005.

After completing the hajj earlier in the year, Tanweer travelled to Pakistan for a course in Islamic studies at a madrasa. The Pakistani government has released footage of Tanweer arriving at Karachi International Airport with Mohammad Sidique Khan, believed to be the ringleader of the London bombers, on Turkish Airlines Flight TK 1056 on 19 November 2004. Tanweer and Khan stayed in Pakistan until 8 February, then flew back to London together. The youngest of the London cell, Hasib Hussain, arrived in Karachi from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 15 July 2004 on Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight SV 714.

Tanweer was born in St Luke's maternity hospital, Bradford to Parveen Akhtar, whose husband, Mohammed Mumtaz Tanweer, was originally from the Faisalabad region of Pakistan. In 1984, the family moved to the Beeston area of Leeds, then to Colwyn Road (also in Beeston) when Tanweer was seven. Known as Kaka (little one) by his family, he attended Wortley High School, where he was described as politically moderate by his friends, who knew him as an outstanding sportsman, excelling at cricket, triple jump, long-distance running, football, and ju-jitsu. He then attended Leeds Metropolitan University, where he studied sports science before leaving for Pakistan in 2004 to attend a course in Islamic studies.

Shehzad Tanweer (15 December 1982 – 7 July 2005) was one of four men who detonated explosives in three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombings. 52 people were killed and over 700 wounded in the attacks.