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9/11 attacks made Brit happy
14/09/2006 21:31 - (SA)
London - A man accused of plotting to detonate bombs in Britain said on Thursday the 9/11 attacks made him happy, and acknowledged receiving weapons training in Pakistan.
Omar Khyam, who is standing trial along with six others, denies conspiring to cause an explosion.
Taking the stand in his own defence, Khyam, 24, was asked about his reaction to the 9/11 2001 attacks in the United States.
"I was happy," he said. "America was, and still is, the greatest enemy of Islam. "They put up puppet regimes in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
"I was happy that America had been hit because of what it represented against the Muslims, but obviously 3 000 people died so there were mixed feelings." Tactical mistake
He said he later decided the attacks had been a tactical mistake.
"I think we would be working better in our own countries, trying to establish an Islamic state," Khyam said.
Khyam and the other suspects were arrested in 2004, during an operation in which police seized 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
Prosecutors say the men planned to set off bombs, and had drawn up a list of possible targets that included Britain's electricity network, one of London's biggest nightclubs and a major shopping mall.
Khyam; Salahuddin Amin, 31; Anthony Garcia, 24; Nabel Hussain, 20; Jawad Akbar, 22; Waheed Mahmood, 34 and Shujah ud Din Mahmood, 19, deny conspiring to cause an explosion.
Khyam, Garcia and Hussain deny a second charge of possession of ammonium nitrate fertilizer for possible use in terrorism. Khyam and Shujah ud Din Mahmood, who are brothers, also deny a charge of possessing aluminum powder for possible use in terrorism. Not raised in religious household
British-born Khyam said he was not raised in a religious household, but as a teenager began attending meetings organised by the now-banned radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun.
He said that between January and March 2000 he attended a training camp in the mountains of Pakistan, where "they taught me everything for warfare" including using weapons and firing rocket-propelled grenades.
Khyam said he was eventually traced by a relative who worked for Pakistani military intelligence and returned to Britain.
- AP
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