British al Qaeda leader pleads guilty to terrorism charges

Whaddya know...we caught another one.

US intel had fingered a British man, Dhiran Barot as a senior al Qaeda figure.

Today he pleaded guilty in a British court to conspiracy to commit murder in a plot to bomb high-profile targets in the U.S. including the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange.

Prosecutors said the plot involved targets in both Britain and the United States. Other alleged targets in the US included the World Bank headquarters in Washington, the Citigroup building in New York and the Prudential building in Newark, New Jersey.

Barot was originally arrested arrested in August 2004. Seven other men in on the plan are due to face trial next year.

Prosecutor Edmund Lawson said Barot planned "to carry out explosions at those premises with no warning. They were plainly designed to kill as many people as possible."

U.S. officials said Barot is a senior al-Qaida figure, known variously as Abu Eisa al-Hindi, Abu Musa al-Hindi and Issa al-Britani, who scouted prominent targets in the United States for al Qaeda under the direct orders of Osama bin-Laden.

He was also indicted last year in New York, along with two others, on charges of planning to attack those buildings.

The primary plan for blowing up the buildings involved something similar to the first World Trade Center bombing - packing three limousines with gas cylinders and explosives and detonating them in underground parking garages.

The plan was found on a computer, along with some rough ideas for radiation or dirty-bomb projects.

Since a number of other charges aganst him were suspended, sentencing was deferred and since, under British law, domestic legal proceedings take precedence over any U.S. extradition attempt, I think it's safe to assume that Barot is singing like a birdie to avoid US justice and work his ticket, depending on how useful he ends up being.