A US informant told a British court on Thursday that he had been involved in two plots to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, confirming that he had bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the attack. Mohammed Babar, a Pakistan-born American, said the first plot had been in early 2002 and the second had been planned for 2003 during Eid. The 31-year-old was the main prosecution witness at the London trial of seven Britons accused of planning bomb attacks in the UK. Police described the case as BritainÂ’s biggest terrorism trial since the Sept 11 attacks on the United States. Babar, who has said he was the menÂ’s accomplice and has admitted terrorism-related offences back in the United States in connection with the allegations, told the court he had been involved in two conspiracies to kill Musharraf. Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Joel Bennathan, Babar said he had bought eight AK-47 machine guns, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and grenades for an assassination attempt in 2002.
Babar, who has been granted immunity from prosecution over his testimony, admitted that he would probably have been jailed for life in the United States had the plot been uncovered or would have received a potential death sentence in Pakistan had he been extradited there. During his testimony, Babar descried how some of the British suspects had links to Al Qaeda, had taken part in explosives training and had planned to smuggle detonators. The trial at LondonÂ’s Old Bailey court continues.