One of the people killed in the London bombings was an Afghan who tried to make a new
life in Britain after his parents were killed by the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, a newspaper
reported yesterday.
Ateeque Sharifi, 24 who died when a suicide bomber blew up a subway train near King’s Cross
station, was the last of the 56 victims to be formally identified. The Independent newspaper reported.
Three years ago he fled Kabul to London, where he learned English and became a model
student. In his spare time, he worked in a pizza takeaway, sending most of his wages home to
his younger sister in Afghanistan, the newspaper said.
Thalia Marriott, the principal at West Thames College which he had attended since September
2002, said the college’s staff and 7000 students were deeply shocked and saddened by his death.
“The deep irony of this tragic events is that Ateeque had left Afghanistan to seek safety in
the UK, only to find his fate at the hands of extremists here,” Marriott was quoted as saying.
She described him as a “truly inspirational and popular student” who was destined for a
bright future.
During a visit to London, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan paid tribute to Sharifi by
placing flowers among the hundreds of personal tributes piling up in the garden square outside
King’s Cross station.