Y2K 'bomb plot' trial opens

Mr Ressam also faces charges in France

An Algerian man suspected of being associated with Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden has gone on trial in Los Angeles.

Ahmed Ressam has pleaded not guilty to nine terrorism-related charges after being arrested in December 1999 when trying to enter the United States from Canada.

What if January last year had started with 1,000 Americans dead? We came very close to having that happen

Richard Clarke, former NSC official

Jury selection in the trial began on Monday. Proceedings are expected to last several months.

The city of Seattle cancelled its planned millennium celebrations after Mr Ressam was seized, afraid that its famed Space Needle could be a target for terrorists.

Millennium plot

Prosecutors allege that Mr Ressam, 33, was trying to smuggle explosives into the US in order to set off explosions during millennium celebrations.

His arrest led to the capture of a number of alleged co-conspirators, one of whom pleaded guilty last week to help a man known by a code name to enter the US from Canada.

Mr Ressam was allegedly trained by Mr bin Laden

The surprise guilty plea from Abdelghani Meskini, who was born in Nigeria, may have implications for Mr Ressam.

But there has been confusion concerning Mr Meskini's testimony.

Last May, former US President Bill Clinton accused Mr bin Laden of being behind the plot.

A former National Security Council official said Mr bin Laden had planned to have his associates set off explosions in a number of different locations as the year 2000 dawned.

"What if January last year had started with 1,000 Americans dead at six or seven locations around the world? We came very close to having that happen," said Richard Clarke, the official.

Second trial

The Ressam trial is the second ongoing court action against defendants allegedly linked with Mr bin Laden, who is believed to live in Afghanistan.

Police searched Mr Ressam's apartment

Four men are on trial in New York, accused of bombing two US embassies in Africa in 1998.

Mr Ressam is suspected of having been trained in Afghanistan by Mr bin Laden's group.

He is already being tried in absentia in France in connection with a 1996 Metro bombing, but US prosecutors are apparently making more effort than the French to connect Mr Ressam to the bin Laden organisation.