Bomb accused says he only wanted devices to go 'pop'

London: The man accused of masterminding the 21/7 attempted bombings claimed on Friday he had not intended to kill people and only wanted his devices to go "pop".

Muktar Said Ebrahim denied he had planned to be a suicide bomber and said he only wanted to draw the world's attention to the plight of Muslims.

Woolwich crown court has heard prosecution claims that Ebrahim was part of a plot to cause carnage on the London transport system by carrying bombs in rucksacks on to three Tube trains and a bus.

The 29-year-old entered the witness box for the first time on Friday and admitted assembling the explosives - made up of liquid hydrogen peroxide and chapati flour - but insisted he did not mean to kill or hurt anyone. His counsel George Carter-Stephenson, QC, told the court Ebrahim had tested the devices beforehand to make sure they did not blow up.

Two weeks after the 7/7 devastation in which 52 commuters were murdered and 700 injured, Ebrahim and three other men took these home-made devices on to the transport network as a political gesture, said Ebrahim. He is the first of six defendants charged with accused of taking part in an extremist plot designed to bring chaos to London's public transport network to appear in the witness box.

Dressed in trousers, a pale grey checked shirt and tie with a goatee beard and moustache, Ebrahim cut a diminutive figure as he gave his evidence.

Conceded

He took the oath on the Quran and, under questioning, immediately conceded he was the man on the No 26 bus who was caught on CCTV apparently detonating a device in his rucksack.

Carter-Stephenson said: "Did you have - to describe it neutrally - a device with you?"

Ebrahim replied: "Yes."

Carter-Stephenson: "Did you intend or hope that that device would explode?"

Ebrahim: "No."