The July 21 plot was altered after the July 7 attacks to make it look like a suicide mission, its alleged ringleader told a court yesterday. Muktar Said Ibrahim claimed that he had intended initially to make as many as ten hoax bombs, which would be left in public places as a protest against the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. But he changed his plans after the London suicide bomb attacks on July 7, 2005, because he thought a similar pattern of incidents would cause “maximum disruption”.

Mr Ibrahim, 29, told Woolwich Crown Court that he had been planning his bomb hoax protest for almost a year before the events of July 21, when four rucksack devices partially exploded on three Underground trains and a No 26 bus.

He said that he wanted to create highly realistic devices but was determined that they would not explode.

“Even though I don’t agree with July 7, it got Britain and the politicians talking about their role in Iraq,” Mr Ibrahim said.

“My aim was to cause maximum disruption and maximum publicity and get maximum debate about the war in Iraq. I thought this was the right time to put pressure on the Government by making a fake suicide mission but obviously without killing innocent people.”

Mr Ibrahim said he had felt angry about the situation in Iraq and had attended demonstrations. But he wanted to take “positive action” in protest.

He came up with a plan to make hoax bombs and down-loaded a video from the internet with instructions in Arabic on how to manufacture peroxide-based explosives, presented by a masked man.

Mr Ibrahim told the jury he had taken the lead in making the explosive mixture and calculating the amounts of hydrogen peroxide and other substances needed.

He said: “I thought the police would take it seriously at the scene but the scientists would realise it wasn’t real. I didn’t think I was going to be in any trouble because it was a hoax.”

Mr Ibrahim said he was very religious and prayed five times a day but denied that camping trips he took in Britain and a three-month visit to Pakistan were in any way connected with jihad training. He had visited mosques and other historic sites in Pakistan and spent much of his time sightseeing.

On his return to Britain he had been angered by reading a letter on the internet written by an Iraqi woman in Abu Ghraib prison who had been raped by her captors.

Mr Ibrahim said he was certain that only the detonators in the devices he made would go off, making a “popping” sound. He had carried out a test.

He added: “Islam forbids killing innocent people. Anybody that takes his own life, he will go to hellfire according to Islam. There are many verses in the Koran saying that you cannot kill yourself and kill other civilians and I believe in these verses and their interpretation.”

Mr Ibrahim, Yassin Hassan Omar, 26, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, Hussein Osman 28, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Adel Yahya, 24, all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life. The trial continues.

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