LONDON, March 30: A US informant told a British court on Thursday he was involved in two plots to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf and had bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the killing.

Mohammed Babar, a Pakistan-born American, said the first plot had been in early 2002 and the second had been planned for Eid in 2003.

The 31-year-old is the main prosecution witness at the London trial of seven Britons accused of planning bomb attacks in the UK.

Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Joel Bennathan, Babar said he had bought eight AK-47 guns, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and grenades for an assassination attempt in 2002.

Babar, who has been granted immunity from prosecution over his testimony, agreed he would probably have been jailed for life in the United States had the plot been uncovered or would have received a potential death sentence in Pakistan had he been extradited there.

Mr Bennathan suggested Babar was lying to make himself appear a more important witness.—Reuters