Five Britons were found guilty yesterday of plotting to carry out al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks across Britain potentially killing hundreds at targets ranging from nightclubs to trains and a shopping centre. The gang planned to use 600 kg (1,300 lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser to make explosives to be used in bombings in revenge for Britain's support the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, prosecutors said.

Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Salahuddin Amin were convicted of conspiring with Canadian Mohammed Momin Khawaja to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. Garcia and Khyam were found guilty of possessing an article for terrorism -- the fertiliser, and Khyam was also convicted of having aluminium powder -- an ingredient in explosives. The men had denied all charges. Khyam?s brother Shujah Mahmood and another man Nabeel Hussain were found not guilty of being involved in the plot.

During the longest-ever terrorism related trial lasting more than a year, prosecutors said the men had only to decide on a target when they were arrested in 2004 before carrying out what would have been the first homegrown attack by Islamist militants. Police swooped on the suspects about 16 months before four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London?s transport system in July 2005, killing 52 commuters.