THE sister of a woman killed in the London 7/7 bombings has said she is saddened to see people celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, head of terrorist organisation al Qaeda, and the mastermind behind the 9/11 airliner attacks on the US in September 2001, was killed by US Navy Seals on Monday.

Celebrations have since been taking place across America.

Esther Hyman, 42, from Cowley, said bin Laden’s death was not “cause to celebrate”.

Her sister Miriam was killed in the London bombings on July 7, 2005.

She was travelling on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square, when a suicide bomber detonated the device in his rucksack.

Miss Hyman said: “Obviously, the death of bin Laden was unexpected, but once we got our heads around it, we decided it was really important not how we felt, but how we acted and responded to the news.”

She said the joyous scenes seemed “undignified”.

She added: “To be honest, I am a little bit saddened by it because personally I do not think it is cause to celebrate.

“It is just another person who has died. Another violent death in the seemingly endless stream of people dying in this conflict.

“Nothing has ever been the same since 7/7 for my family and for us, it just feels like another step on another path that will be the rest of our lives.”

The verdict of an inquest into the London bombings is expected at 10am on Friday.

Dr Taj Hargey, chairman of the Muslim Education Centre, said such scenes could enrage Muslim militants.

He said: “This death was to be expected because no-one can run forever, but this notion that it will end violence is a pipe dream. Those joyous scenes are unbecoming as a Christian nation and will only enrage Muslim countries.”

He added: “Why did they bury him at sea? He was 800 miles from the sea. That has never been done.

“No-one from Islam has ever been killed on land and buried at sea.

“I think there is going to be a long fuse, but there will eventually come an explosion.

“I don’t know how or when, but the Americans are rubbing militants’ noses in the dirt, by burying him at sea and not trying to apprehend him.”

County councillor for Banbury Alyas Ahmed said: “I think people are shell-shocked by it all and the majority of people don’t yet believe he is dead.

“I think people need concrete evidence that he is dead.”

Peter Jay, a former ambassador to Washington, said: “Bin Laden was public enemy number one, so of course his capture will have a huge reaction.

“This is perhaps stronger in the US, where the culture of the wild west is particularly strong.”

The former Woodstock mayor added: “It is natural that the people he attacked celebrate the fact that he can’t do it anymore. Anyone who can’t see that is morally blind.”

Bin Laden spent time in Oxford as a young language student in 1971.

In photographs discovered in 2001, the 14-year-old is seen posing with two of his brothers and two Spanish girls in an Oxford park.

In other pictures, bin Laden is seen punting in Oxford and enjoying a picnic.

  • What do you think? Email letters@oxfordmail.co.uk or write to Letters to the Editor, Oxford Mail, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0EJ.