SIX Muslim men plotted to carry out a series of "murderous suicide bombings" on London's public transport system, a court has heard.

The men were engaged in an "extremist Muslim plot" to target the capital on Thursday, July 21 2005, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

The alleged attacks would have occurred just 14 days after the "carnage" of the July 7 London bombings, the court heard.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, Hussain Osman, 28, Yassin Omar, 26, and Ramzi Mohammed, 25, are charged with attempting to murder passengers on the London transport system.

Along with Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, and Adel Yahya, 24, the four are also accused of conspiracy to murder and plotting to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

The six were all originally from Africa but living in London.

Prosecutor Nigel Sweeney QC said they chose a date for their plot "just 14 days after the carnage of July 7", but the conspiracy "had been in existence long before the events of July 7".

It did not appear to be some "hastily arranged copycat", Mr Sweeney added.

Five of them armed themselves with devices made from a lethal chemical mixture which included chapatti flour.

They were packed with makeshift shrapnel to increase the "carnage" they would cause on July 21, the prosecution said.

The bombs ultimately failed to explode. Mr Sweeney said it was either because they had been manufactured incorrectly or because hot weather had affected the chemicals.

Mr Sweeney said: "The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

He also told the court how Mr Mohammed had written a suicide note found in pieces after his arrest, and how Mr Asiedu "lost his nerve" and dumped his bomb.

It was also revealed in court that Omar fled London after the attempted attacks disguised as a woman wearing a burka.

He was captured on CCTV at Golders Green coach station in north London and at Birmingham coach station disguised in the traditional Muslim women's dress.

He was picked up on the CCTV just a day after the attempted attacks, the court was told.

The trial is expected to last up to four months.

The jury who will try the men were chosen on Friday.

The judge, Mr Justice Fulford, told the jury: "It is on the basis of the evidence in this court and nothing else that you will be asked to reach your verdict in this case.

"You must remain wholly unaffected by any emotion and you must be wholly unaffected by any feelings of apprehension that you might have had in 2005."

The alleged attacks took place on a bus in Hackney and on the Tube at Shepherd's Bush, the Oval and Warren Street.

The charges against Asiedu relates to an unexploded device found in Little Wormwood Scrubs park in west London two days after the alleged attacks.

All six, except Yahya, are accused of possessing an improvised explosive device with intent to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

Yahya was arrested at Gatwick Airport in December 2005 after arriving from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.