A BLACKBURN-born man has admitted planning a mini-explosion in the Houses of Parliament to cause the public 'alarm and panic'.

Tanvir Hussain, 27, helped friend Ahmed Ali, 27, build a device which would make 'a loud bang' in the hope that the Government would change its foreign policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Their target was originally the Houses of Parliament but they switched to airport terminals because security was too tight at Westminster, he told Woolwich Crown Court in London.

Hussain is accused of plotting to bring down Trans-Atlantic flights with liquid explosives with seven other Muslims.

But Blackburn-born Hussain insisted he never wanted to hurt or kill anyone.

He told jurors: "What it was suppose to do was cause alarm and panic and once the device went off."

Hussain was born in Blackburn but moved to London with his parents, two brothers and one sister in the late 1980s when he was six. His family originate from Pakistan.

Hussain is one of eight men accused of plotting to launch co-ordinated suicide attacks on passenger jets flying from London Heathrow Terminal Three to the US and Canada.

They were all arrested on the night of August 9, 2006, following a surveillance operation inside the alleged bomb factory at 386A Forest Road, Walthamstow, east London.

It is claimed the gang plotted to make bombs disguised as Lucozade or Oasis soft drinks bottles and smuggle them on board planes leaving Heathrow for destinations in North America.

(Proceeding).

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