The leader of an alleged terrorist gang accused of planning mid-air carnage dismissed a plot to set off a bomb at Westminster as a “publicity stunt”.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, admitted conspiring to explode a bomb at the Houses of Parliament as a political protest, but he told Woolwich Crown Court that neither he nor two other men involved in the plan wanted to kill or hurt anyone.

He said that martyrdom videos found by police, in which he and others threatened violent attacks on the West, were propaganda for an anti-government documentary.

Giving evidence in his defence, Mr Ali said that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had driven him to act. Describing his plans, he said that an attack in Westminster would attract international publicity. He said: “Enough to cause general concern . . . We did not want to kill or injure anyone. Something small enough to cause a large bang, maybe some smoke. Something that would be considered serious and credible, something to generate that mass media attention.”

Mr Ali is accused with seven other men of a terrorist conspiracy to murder thousands in attacks on transatlantic aircraft. The prosecution said that the men planned to smuggle liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks on board and detonate them.

All eight men deny two joint charges of conspiring to murder and to endanger aircraft.

Mr Ali said: “At no stage did I ever even think of going on an airplane or causing an explosion there.”

He said that he thought of the bomb plot idea during political discussions with his codefendant Assad Sarwar. They had travelled to Pakistan to help refugees from Afghanistan. Mr Ali said that they realised charity work could achieve only limited success.

He said: “The root problem we thought was to try and change foreign policy. We thought we are not American so forget America, we should deal with being a British citizen.”

Mr Ali said that he decided to make a documentary using the “most graphic and shocking” footage from the internet. This would combine the martyrdom videos and be distributed online via the YouTube website. The bomb blast would help to publicise it.

Mr Ali, who said that he and Mr Sarwar also considered power stations and Canary Wharf as targets, added: “It is nothing to do with Islamic funda-mentalism or radical Islam, it is purely down to foreign policy.”

Mr Ali said that he looked up bomb-making ideas at an internet caféand that Mr Sarwar suggested a contact in Pakistan might be able to help.

Nadine Radford, QC, the barrister for Mr Ali, questioned him about his study of Islamic history, including works on jihad. When asked if he supported suicide attacks, he replied: “No, I do not believe in suicide bombing. Killing, taking an innocent life, is haram [forbidden].”

Mr Ali, of Walthamstow, East London, is on trial with seven other men. They are: Mr Sarwar, 28, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Leyton, East London; Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking, East London; Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Stoke Newington, North London; Ara-fat Waheed Khan, 27, of Walthamstow; Waheed Zaman, 24, of Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, also known as Brian Young, 30 of Plaistow, East London. The case continues.

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