The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, London

Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, a jury was told Monday, although they maintain they never intended to cause midair carnage.

Three of the men - Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 - admitted they planned to set off bombs, just not aboard planes bound from London's Heathrow to North America.

They and two other defendants - Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30 - have also admitted to "conspiring to cause a public nuisance" by publishing videos threatening suicide bomb attacks. Jurors still need to rule on whether the five men and three other defendants are guilty of conspiring to murder thousands of people by using liquid explosives to blow their aircraft out of the sky.

Their trial is drawing to a close.

The eight defendants were arrested in 2006. Airlines quickly imposed tough new limits on the amount of liquids and gels airline passengers could take in their carry-on luggage.