LEEDS, England - Britain was aghast on Wednesday at the possibility four young friends from northern England, including a tearaway teen and a cricket-mad sports graduate, carried out last week's attacks in London.
"The Boy Bombers" wrote The Sun newspaper, "Suicide bombers from suburbia" wrote the Daily Mail, of the four men suspected of killing more than 50 people in what may have been western Europe's first suicide attack.
Media reports suggested the four, who are thought to have died in the blasts on London's transport network, were British born, living in the northern English town of Leeds and aged between 19 and 30. They were said to be of ethnic Pakistani origin.
"They were four ordinary British lads from ordinary British homes who loved football and girls... So why did they become the suicide murderers?" The Daily Mirror wondered on its front page.
Neighbors in Leeds were shocked that their young might have been responsible for the blasts.
"He was a sweet guy who gets on with everyone," said Mohamed Ansaar Riaz, 19, in The Times newspaper, of one of the four suspects, a 22-year-old sports science graduate who was said to adore football and cricket.
"He had a fantastic sense of humor and could make you laugh... The idea of him going down to London to explode a bomb is unbelievable; it is not in his nature to do something like that."
The suspect, who was said to help out in his father's fast food shop in Leeds, was described as "sound as a pound" by Azi Mohammed in The Guardian.
"I only played cricket in the park with him around 10 days ago. He is not interested in politics."
Another neighbor, who declined to be named, told ITN News that the "always smiling" sports graduate had spent two months in Afghanistan last year and four months in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Another suspect, a 19-year-old also from Leeds, was said to have turned to religion after being a "bit wild".
"He went off the rails and his parents were very worried. They wanted to instill some discipline in him; I don't know what happened but 18 months to two years ago (the suspect) suddenly changed and became devoutly religious," a cousin was quoted in The Times as saying.
Police were alerted to the existence of one of the four when his distressed family called a casualty hotline on Thursday.
Their son had been traveling to London "with his mates" and had not returned, The Guardian reported.
Police said the four men traveled to London together and newspaper reports said they were carrying military-style rucksacks containing 10 lb high-explosive bombs.
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