Four UK men plead guilty on terror-related charge

LONDON, Apr 25 (Reuters) Four British men pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiring to cause explosions in a case linked to that of a Briton jailed last year for plotting to blow up the New York Stock Exchange.

The men -- Junade Feroze, 31, Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, 28, Abdul Aziz Jalil, 34, and Omar Abdul Rehman, 23 -- pleaded guilty to conspiring with Dhiren Barot between February 2001 and August 2004 to cause an explosion or explosions, the court said.

Barot, 34, was sentenced last year to 40 years in prison for the stock exchange plot and his plans for other attacks in Britain involving gas-filled limousines and a ''dirty bomb''.

Another suspect in the ongoing trial, Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 27, pleaded guilty last week, while a sixth has pleaded not guilty. A seventh suspect has not yet been indicted.

Those who have pleaded guilty are due to be sentenced once the trail against the outstanding suspects is completed, an official from Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said.

Barot, a Muslim convert, was convicted of plotting to blow up the headquarters of New York Stock Exchange as well as Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Prudential in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.

The judge who sentenced Barot said that, but for the September 11 attacks, he had little doubt that one or more of Barot's plans, presented to al Qaeda's leaders for approval, would have become a reality.

REUTERS RS BD2302