Briton On Trial Over US Soldier's Death

A British man has gone on trial in London accused of causing the death of a US soldier in Iraq.

Anis Abid Sardar is accused of making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or roadside bombs that were used in the conflict in Iraq.

Sardar, 38, from Wembley, is being tried in a London court in what is believed to be a legal first, accused of assembling bombs in Syria that were planted on the outskirts of Baghdad in 2007.

Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Washington DC died after the armoured vehicle in which he was travelling hit a bomb on 27 September of that year. Four other soldiers were injured.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Max Hill QC said: "This is an unusual trial, in that almost all of the evidence you will hear and see comes from Iraq.

"The offences, we say, are the most serious imaginable, and the British link is the fact that the defendant, a British citizen, lives and works here.

"For that reason, it is lawful to place him on trial in London, even though the activities you will hear about took place far away in Iraq.

"The Crown's case is that the defendant Mr Sardar was directly involved in making bombs for use in Iraq during 2007.

"As you will hear, he seems to have been based in Syria, probably in the capital city Damascus at relevant times."

Sardar, who denies murder, conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion, was arrested last year after his fingerprints were found on bombs recovered in Iraq by US forces.

Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court heard how Sardar had said he was studying Arabic in Syria in 2007 but, the prosecution said, he already spoke Arabic well and "was without doubt involved in bomb-making, whether in Syria or in neighbouring Iraq".

A bomb-making manual had been found at his home, the prosecutor said, and Sardar's fingerprints had been found on two bombs.

The fingerprints of another man - Sajjad Adnan - were also found on the bombs and it was only his that were found on the bomb that killed SFC Johnson.

But, Mr Hill argued: "That bomb was part of a sequence, involving bombs concealed geographically quite close together, all as part of a joint effort by the defendant Mr Sardar, together with Adnan and others.

"That is why it is unnecessary for Mr Sardar to have left his own finger mark on the bomb which killed Sergeant Johnson."

Adnan, who is not a British citizen, was arrested after the bombings and has since been handed over to the Iraqi authorities.