The FBI was warned that the ringleader of the July 7 bombers attended a jihad training camp with other British Muslims a year before he carried out the London attacks, a court heard yesterday.

Mohammed Junaid Babar, a convicted supporter of al-Qaeda, said that Mohammad Sidique Khan attended the camp in Pakistan in July 2003 with one of the men accused of conspiring with the bombers.

Khan, who blew himself up on an Underground train at Edgware Road, and Mohammed Shakil even appeared in a video to promote jihad in Britain, it was alleged.

Babar told Kingston Crown Court that Khan and Mr Shakil were persuaded to attend the training camp while visiting Pakistan to find out if foreign fighters were wanted in neighbouring Afghanistan. Khan called himself Ibrahim and Mr Shakil used the name Zubair.

Five British Muslims attended the camp, which had been organised by a “committed terrorist” known as Ausman, said Babar. It was held on top of a mountain near the village of Garhoque in the Marden region, an eight-hour drive from Islamabad.

The leader of the local madrassa (religious school) helped the group and his son bought them weapons paid for by Ausman, Babar told the court. The men did exercises to prepare for fighting in mountainous Afghanistan, prayed, attended talks about the virtues of jihad and agreed to take part in a promotional video.

“They had their faces covered because we had decided that we were going to edit the video . . . and send it to the UK for promotional purposes, to show that jihad in Pakistan was continuing,” said Babar.

Khan and Mr Shakil spent three or four days at the camp but only fired the weapons – AK47s, a light ma-chinegun and two rocket-propelled grenades – for a total of ten or 15 minutes on the final day, Babar told the court. Neither man made any mention of suicide bombings.

Babar was arrested in America the following April. He said he told the FBI about “Ibrahim” before the July 7 attack but discussed him in detail only when he saw his photograph in newspapers following the bombings.

Babar told the court via a video link from New York that he had left America after the September 11 attacks and spent two weeks in Britain before going to Pakistan to take part in jihad. Between October 2001 and the spring of 2004 he met many young British men of Pakistani origin who wanted to take part in jihad.

He told the court he had visited Britain in 2002 and 2003 to raise money for jihad and received funds from a doctor, professor, four businessmen and two local councillors.

In early 2004 he visited again to see those he had met in Pakistan, including Ausman, and was told that Khan and Mr Shakil had fallen out. In April 2004 he visited New York and was arrested by the FBI.

Babar said he agreed to help the investigators and has pleaded guilty to providing support and resources for al-Qaeda and terrorist activities. He said the crimes carry a possible 70-year jail sentence but he hopes his cooperation means he will be released as early as next year.

Mr Shakil, 31, from Beeston, Leeds, and two other British Muslims are accused of conspiring with the London bombers to cause an explosion.

The men are alleged to have carried out a “reconnaissance” mission in December 2004 for the gang, which went on to kill 52 people and injure more than 800 others.

Earlier the court heard that the two other alleged conspirators, Waheed Ali, 24, and Sadeer Saleem, 27, had also visited Pakistan at the same time as Khan in December 2004.

All three defendants deny conspiring with the 7/7 bombers and others to cause explosions in Britain. The trial continues.

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