Cool, lol, smiley faces - the language of terrorist

LONDON: A London court has been hearing how two suspected terrorists messaged each other on the internet, employing the chatty and informal language of teenagers while planning deadly attacks on targets in London and Glasgow.

The prosecution told Woolwich Crown Court Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian PhD student in Britain, and Iraqi-born doctor Bilal Abdulla had discussed via internet messaging how they would "start experiments sometime soon" months before the June 2007 attacks.

A laptop seized by police contained a conversation in which Ahmed told the Abdulla: "Bro, inshallah [God willing], I think we are gonna start experiments sometime soon," the jury heard.

Abdulla replied "Oh cool" to Ahmed's message, before adding a smiley face symbol.

During the conversation, in February 2007, Ahmed continued: "Lol [laugh out loud]. Probably in a week or so we will have a meeting," the jury was told.

Abdulla is being tried with another alleged accomplice for attempts to blow up two bomb-laden cars in central London June 29 and a bid to attack the main terminal of Glasgow airport with a burning Jeep a day later.

Both attacks failed but Ahmed, who drove the Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport, died of burn injuries later.