Friends insist young man was interested only in cricket

The suspected bomber - Shahzad Tanweer: Ten days ago Shahzad Tanweer, a 22-year-old British Asian, was playing cricket in the…

The suspected bomber - Shahzad Tanweer: Ten days ago Shahzad Tanweer, a 22-year-old British Asian, was playing cricket in the local park with his friends. It was something he loved to do. He was a sporty young man who loved martial arts and drove his dad's Mercedes around the streets and had many friends in the Beeston area of Leeds.

"He is sound as a pound," said Azi Mohammed, a close friend. "The idea that he was involved in terrorism or extremism is ridiculous. The idea that he went down to London and exploded a bomb is unbelievable.

"I only played cricket in the park with him around 10 days ago. He is not interested in politics."

Thought to have been educated at Lawnswood school in Beeston, and a sports science graduate from Leeds University, Shahzad had a brother and two sisters. They were all born in Bradford before moving to Leeds with their parents 20 years ago.

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"At school he loved cricket best of all sports. He wanted to be in a county team," said his father's best friend, Mohammed Afzal. Shahzad's friends, who have not seen him for more than a week, said they were worried about him.

"He is missing, man, we are worried about him," said Azi, one of several of Shahzad's friends in the Beeston area. They all dress in jeans and T-shirts and seem to shun traditional Islamic dress.

"Shahzad went to a few mosques around here but he was more interested in his jujitsu. I trained with him all the time; he is really fit."

Brought up in England, Shahzad's father, Mohammed Mumtaz, was originally from the Faisalabad region of Pakistan.

It is thought Shahzad had recently visited Pakistan. The 22-year-old did not have a regular job but sometimes worked in his father's fish and chip shop, South Leeds Fisheries, a few streets away from his home.

It is one of several businesses Mr Mumtaz has owned, including a curry takeaway and a meat shop.

According to family and friends Shahzad, despite his secular appearance, went to many mosques but was a regular at the Bangali mosque on Dewsbury Road near his home.

The imam, Hamid Ali, said yesterday: "Maybe they did it, maybe they didn't.

"But someone did it and they deserve to be punished."