The British government, reportedly trying to avoid playing into the hands of the extremists, refused to comment on the video that was aired Thursday on the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera.

In footage accompanied by a separate message by al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, a man identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan told viewers that Western atrocities against Muslims drove him to bomb a subway train.

The police have identified Sidique Khan, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, as one of the four men who blew up three subway trains and a double-decker bus on July 7, killing 52 commuters and themselves.

Gous Ali, a Muslim whose Hindu girlfriend Neetu Jain died in the bus blast, objected to giving publicity to people he denounced as un-Islamic.

"You can't hurt a living human being - it's wrong - and if they are doing that they are not Muslims," Ali said.