UK man pleads guilty to plotting bomb attack

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LONDON (Reuters) -A British man pleaded guilty on Friday to plotting a terrorist attack, collecting weapons and parts for a homemade bomb, conducting reconnaissance at an army base near King Charles’ Windsor Castle, and setting fire at a church.

Ilyas Akhtar, 20, appeared at London’s Old Bailey court by video link and pleaded guilty to four charges, including a count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

The charge stated that he had accessed an al Qaeda manual, bought knives and razor blades and conducted research about weapons, poisons and how to make an improvised explosive device.

He visited locations including Windsor’s Victoria Barracks, base of the Coldstream Guards infantry regiment whose duties include the ceremonial role of protecting royal palaces.

Akhtar also pleaded guilty to one count of arson at a church in Slough, a town near Windsor.

The other charges he admitted include possessing a record likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, and one count of perpetrating a bomb hoax.

He pleaded not guilty to four other counts of arson relating to fires at an ice rink and a leisure centre in Slough in May this year. He faces a provisional trial at Woolwich Crown Court in October next year and was remanded into custody.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael HoldenEditing by Peter Graff)