Bomb plot man "religious" and not militant

By Zeeshan Haider

DOONGI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani relatives of a British man jailed for life for plotting al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks said on Tuesday he was a religious man but had never shown any hint of militancy.

Waheed Mahmood was one of five Britons jailed for life in London on Monday for plotting attacks on targets across Britain ranging from nightclubs to trains and a shopping centre.

"We're sad but helpless. There's nothing we can do," said Mahmood's uncle, farmer Chaudhry Manga, in the village of Doongi, in rolling hills and wheat fields 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

"He was a religious person and used to offer prayers regularly. Perhaps that was his only mistake," Manga said wryly, puffing on a cigarette in his modest living room.

Mahmood's grandfather first went to Britain in the 1950s or 1960s, villagers said.

Mahmood, who relatives said was in his early 30s, was born in Britain but built a two-storey villa-style house of brown tiles and white walls in his family village.

Married to a cousin, Mahmood came to stay in the house with his three daughters and son but left and went back to Britain when his children got sick, villagers said.

He hadn't been seen for about three years, relatives and other villagers said. His house was empty on Tuesday, although villagers said a watchman was looking after it.