Airline bomb suspects admit to lesser charge

London: Five men accused of plotting to blow up trans-Atlantic jets have pleaded guilty to lesser charges but maintain they never planned to destroy airliners, a jury was told on Monday.

Three men - Abdullah Ahmad Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 - admitted they planned to set off bombs, just not aboard passenger planes bound from London's Heathrow Airport to North America, the jury was told.

'Public nuisance'

They and two other defendants - Ebrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30 - have also admitted to "conspiring to cause a public nuisance" by publishing videos threatening suicide bomb attacks.

Prosecutors say the five, along with three other defendants, wanted to kill hundreds of passengers by detonating bombs concealed in soft drink bottles as their flights crossed the Atlantic Ocean, or passed over North American cities.

Prosecutors say they were close to carrying out their plan when they were arrested in August 2006 and that they had created "martyrdom" videos to be shown after the suicide-bombings were carried out.

The men deny the charges.

Ali and Sarwar told the court they were assembling the weapons as part of a publicity stunt to promote an anti-Western documentary which would feature the videos.