THE funeral of teenage London bus bomber Hasib Hussain took place yesterday amid tight security.
Police and security staff stood by as the remains of 18-year-old Hussain were buried during a low-key ceremony at a Leeds cemetery. The student blew himself up and killed 13 others on the No30 bus in Tavistock Square on July 7th.
Mourners were led by Hussain's father Mohamed, a retired foundry worker, and the suicide bomber's 25-year-old brother Imran. His mother Mazina was also thought to be at the 45-minute service. Six police officers stood nearby to oversee the burial, ensuring the service remained private.
It went ahead without disturbance just 24 hours after Britain remembered the 52 innocent victims who died in the July bombings in a service or remembrance at St Paul's Cathedral.
Most mourners yesterday were dressed in traditional Muslim clothing. Hussain's family were too upset to speak after the service and asked to be left alone.
One Asian man, who did not want to be named, confirmed it was Hasib Hussain's funeral.
The man in his 20s, said: "It's a very upsetting time for everybody here. His family and wanted to pay the respects to Hasib in private with the people who loved him.
"They have found it as hard as anyone and wish to be left alone to grieve."
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror in August, Hussain's father described him as "the perfect son" who wouldn't harm a fly. He feared his son had been brainwashed into carrying out the bombing.
"The boy I see on the TV news, the boy I see in the papers, is not the child I knew," he said.
"If a fly came into the house, he would catch it and take it outside. If there was a caterpillar in the garden, he would make sure it was safe. I keep thinking that this must be some kind of mistake. That it must have been someone else who did this. I can only imagine that he was brainwashed into doing this.
"If I am wrong, then my son will face his reward in the next life."
Leeds-born Hussain went to the Ingram Road Primary School nursery aged three and later moved to Matthew Murray comprehensive school.
He passed GCSEs in English language, literature, mathematics, science, design technology and Urdu, as well as a GNVQ in business studies.
Hussain was due to start university in September and had also agreed to an arranged marriage with a young woman from Pakistan, though no date had been set.
The Metropolitan Police said the bodies of all four 7/7 bombers had been released last week.
The remains of another suicide bomber from Leeds, Shezhad Tanweer, were buried in a remote village in Pakistan last Thursday.
Two hundred attended the funeral of the 22-year-old who killed seven people at Aldgate when he blew himself up.
His parents Mumtaz and Parveen took his coffin to Sumandri in eastern Punjab, where he was buried at the shrine of Pir Barkat Ali Shah, an Islamic saint.