British jury sees footage of suicide bomber suspect

LONDON (Reuters) - A British court was shown footage on Tuesday that prosecutors said showed a would-be suicide bomber trying to detonate his bomb on a London underground train packed with terrified passengers.

Jurors at the trial of six men accused of failed attacks on London's transport system in July 2005, two weeks after bombings that killed 52 people and wounded about 700, watched in silence as the closed circuit television footage was played in court.

Chief prosecutor Nigel Sweeney said the images captured by cameras inside the train were of one of the accused, Ramzi Mohammed, turning a rucksack which contained a makeshift bomb toward a woman with a child in a pushchair.

The footage showed passengers turning and fleeing in terror, scrambling to get away from Mohammed into adjoining carriages.

In a note later found by police and described by the prosecution as undoubtedly a suicide message, Mohammed told his family to rejoice in his actions.

"My family don't cry ... but instead rejoice in happiness and love for what I have done for the sake of Allah for he loves those who fight in his sake," said the note read out in court.

As the trial opened on Monday, Sweeney told the high-security Woolwich Crown Court the defendants devised an "extremist Muslim plot" to carry out suicide bombings on London's transport system. Four of the six had succeeded in triggering detonators, but the main charges failed to explode.

But he argued this was not simply a hastily-arranged copycat plot, but a long-planned operation. The bombs were made of hydrogen peroxide, nail varnish and flour used to make chapatis, or unleavened bread. They were carried in rucksacks with wires connected to the detonators hidden under clothing, he said.

HUGE MANHUNT

The targets -- three underground trains and a bus -- echoed those in the deadly attacks by four young British Muslims who blew themselves up in London two weeks earlier, on July 7, 2005.

The failed second set of attacks triggered a huge manhunt, leaving Londoners unclear whether they were a botched and quickly assembled attempt to replicate the original carnage.

The six defendants are all originally from Africa and in their 20s.

The security camera footage showed how an off-duty fireman, Angus Campbell, remained in the carriage as other passengers fled and remonstrated with the suspected bomber.

Sweeney told the court that during their exchange, Mohammed said: "What's the matter? It's bread. It wasn't me, it was that," and looked at the rucksack, which he had taken off and put on the floor of the carriage.

The prosecutor said the emergency alarm was then activated on the train. Mohammed was then captured again by a security camera at the next station, Oval, where he was seen running along the platform at speed pursued by a number of passengers.

All the main suspects on trial were apprehended just over a week after the failed attacks.

Mohammed and Muktah Said Ibrahim, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, Hussein Osman, Yassin Hassin Omar and Adel Yahya are all charged with conspiracy to murder. They deny the charges.