A London court on Tuesday sentenced a British al-Qaeda terrorist who had planned a series of attacks in the United Kingdom and the United States to at least 40 years in jail.

At London's Woolwich Crown Court, Dhiren Barot, 34, from London, admitted a charge of conspiracy to make mass explosions in the underground systems of Britain and the United States.

He also planned to use radioactive dirty bombs, a petrol tanker and to blow up a Tube train under the River Thames to flood the underground network in an attempt to "emulate" the Madrid train bombings which killed almost 200 people.

The judge told Barot that if he had been successful, it "would have affected thousands personally, millions indirectly and ultimately the whole of the U.S. and the UK".

Barot was arrested in August in North-west London by British armed police and pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to murder.

He is said to have been trained in terrorist training centers in Pakistan and had prepared meticulous plans for al-Qaeda figures on a series of synchronized attacks in Britain.

Barot's American "bombings" were originally planned in 2000 and 2001 before the September 11 attacks. His targets were the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, New York's Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings, and the Prudential building in Newark.

Source: Xinhua