Britain begins airliner bomb plot trial

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - The trial of eight Britons accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners bound for north America began on Wednesday with jury selection.

A police spokesman said it would be the world's biggest counter-terrorism trial. It could last up to eight months.

The Britons are accused of plotting to use liquid explosives to bring down several planes simultaneously mid-flight.

The suspects were arrested in raids in London and Britain's second city of Birmingham, central England, in August 2006 and the arrests led to a sharp increase in security at airports.

On Wednesday the judge, Justice David Calvert-Smith, began selecting a jury of 12 to hear the case at the maximum security Woolwich Crown Court in east London.

"This concerns an allegation that in 2006 a number of men planned to create bombs which some of their number would take on board passenger aircraft flying from London Heathrow to various destinations in Canada and the USA," Calvert-Smith told the potential jurors.

"It is further alleged that the bombs were planned to be set off when the aircraft were airborne and the bombers and all in the aircraft would be killed."

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, Tanvir Hussain, Mohammed Gulzar, Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zaman and Umar Islam are charged with conspiracy to murder.