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A British Muslim has been convicted of conspiring to murder civilians in a "deadly terrorist attack".

Adam Khatib, 23, a factory worker from Walthamstow, east London, was part of a terror cell run from Pakistan.

The cell was led by Abdullah Ahmed Ali, convicted of plotting to blow up transatlantic passenger airliners.

Five young American Muslims arrested in Pakistan met representatives of a group linked to al-Qaida and asked for training, but were turned down because they lacked references from trusted militants, according to a Pakistani police official.

A regional police chief, Javed Islam, said the men wanted to join militants in Pakistan's tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and said that they met a banned military organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammed, in Hyderabad, and representatives of a related group, Jamat-ud-Dawa, in Lahore.

The police chief in the eastern city of Sargodha, Usman Anwar, said that the five were "directly connected" to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

"They are proudly saying they are here for jihad," or holy war, Anwar said.

Asians jailed over planned metro attack

Spain's anti-terrorism court has convicted 11 men of South Asian origin, mostly Pakistanis, in connection with a plot to stage suicide attacks in the Barcelona metro last year.

The men have received jail terms of between eight and 14 years, a copy of the ruling indicates.

They intended to "carry out a violent attack using explosives against the Barcelona metro, which could have caused many casualties", the court said on Monday.

"The indiscriminate aim is evidence of the terrorist nature of the attacks."

Shaib Iqbal and Qadeer Malik, both born in Pakistan, received the stiffest terms of 14 years and six months for "belonging to a terrorist group" and for "weapons possession".

Maroof Ahmed Mirza, also of Pakistani origin and who the court said was "the leader of the group", was jailed for 10-and-a-half years for "belonging to a terrorist group", while the other eight each received terms of eight-and-a-half years on the same charge.

Ten of the men were arrested in the northeastern city of Barcelona in January 2008 in raids during which police also recovered bomb-making equipment. Another was detained five months later in the Netherlands.

The charges were based on the declarations of an informant who was a member of the suspected Islamist cell and who then became a protected witness.

The court said the cell was inspired by Baitullah Mehsud, leader of a Pakistani Taliban group linked to al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

It cited a video interview available on the internet in which the spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed it had planned the Barcelona attacks to protest the presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan.

"The connection they had with Baitullah Mehsud meant that others, members of the same organisation, were sent to Barcelona from different countries to take part in the action, including with suicide bombers if needed," it said.

Ten of those convicted on Monday are of Pakistani origin, while one, Roshan Jamal Khan, was born in Mumbai, India.