An Ethiopian-born Briton appeared in court on Friday charged with attempted murder and possessing explosives as part of the botched attacks by four would-be bombers on the London transport system on July 21.

Hussain Osman, also known as Hamdi Issac, was flown from Italy on Thursday with British police officers to a Royal Air Force base at Northolt in west London after failing to have his extradition blocked.

Security was tight around the maximum security court in southeast London. All cars were searched and there was rigorous screening of people entering the building. Osman, 27, was brought to court in a van flanked by two other police vehicles.

Wearing a light blue shirt, he nodded as the seven charges were read out including attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, explosive offences and preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

He was remanded in custody until December 8 and no application for bail was made. When asked for his address, he told the court clerk he did not have one.

The July 21 attacks killed no one but brought chaos to the capital, mimicking attacks two weeks earlier by four British Muslim suicide bombers who killed 52 people on three underground trains and a bus.

British police accuse Osman and three others - Ibrahim Muktar Said, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Hassan Omar - of trying to set off bombs on three underground trains and a bus. Police say the devices failed to detonate.

Osman was captured in Rome a week after the failed attacks and is accused of trying to blow up a train at Shepherd's Bush in west London.

Said, Mohammed and Omar were arrested in Britain and have been charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and explosives offences.

Osman's Italian lawyers had fought his extradition from Italy, arguing they had not received proof a crime had been committed.

Britain has been on high alert for more attacks since the bombings and on Friday a man carrying a suspicious package near an aircraft was arrested at Manchester airport, prompting the temporary closure of the northern England airport.

'Bomber's mind was poisoned'

The widow of one of the suicide bombers who killed 52 people in attacks on London's transport system on July 7 said on Friday her peace-loving husband's mind was "poisoned."

Samantha Lewthwaite, the wife of Jamaican-born Germaine Lindsay who killed 27 people on an underground train near King's Cross station, said he had become twisted by fanatics he had met towards the end of last year.

"The killing of innocent British civilians by Jamal (Lindsay) was something I could never comprehend," she said.

"He was so angry when he saw Muslim civilians being killed on the streets of Iraq, Bosnia, Palestine and Israel - and always said it was the innocent who suffered.

Lindsay's behaviour had become increasingly erratic in the weeks running up to the attacks.

Source: China Daily