StatementThe family of teenage suicide bomber Hasib Hussain last night spoke of their "devastation" and described their son as a "loving and normal young man".
In a statement issued through West Yorkshire Police, they expressed their disbelief that the 18-year-old was involved in the bus attack which killed 14 people.
"Hasib was a loving and normal young man who gave us no concern and we are having difficulty taking this in."
The statement continued: "Our thoughts are with all the bereaved families and we have to live ourselves with the loss of our son in these difficult circumstances.
"We had no knowledge of his activities and had we done we would have done everything in our power to stop him. We urge anyone with information about these events, or leading up to them, to co-operate fully with the authorities."
Yesterday, detectives released a CCTV image of Hussain, with the rucksack on his back containing 10lb of explosives, at Luton airport on the morning of the bombings.
The teenager and his three accomplices were seen heading to King's Cross, where they split up. Hussain then caught the No 30 bus.
A focus of the police investigation is to establish what Hussain was doing in the "missing 81 minutes" between 8.26am, when all four bombers arrived at Kings Cross, and 9.47am when he detonated his bomb.
One theory police are working on is that Hussain took the bus because he was unable to board a Northern Line - the service had been suspended.
It has also emerged that Hussain was previously known to police and had been cautioned last year over shoplifting.