Terror suspect 'happy' on Sept. 11

LONDON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A British man accused of involvement in a fertilizer bomb plot has said he was "happy" when he learned of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Omar Khyam, who has been charged alongside six other men in Britain in a plot to bomb nightclubs and other locations, told the court he considered the United States an enemy of Islam, the BBC reported Thursday.

"I was happy. America was, and still is, the greatest enemy of Islam," Khyam said. "They put up puppet regimes in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

"I was happy that America had been hit because of what it represented against the Muslims, but obviously 3,000 people died so there were mixed feelings."

Khyam was arrested in 2004 alongside his brother Shujah Mahmood, and Waheed Mahmood -- apparently no relation -- Jawad Akbar, Salahuddin Amin, Anthony Garcia and Nabeel Hussain, Sky News reported. All of the men were charged with conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004.