A South Asian, accused of links to the Al Qaeda terror network and involvement in plans to derail trains and sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, has pleaded guilty to felony charges linked to terror plots.

Lyman Faris (34), from Columbus (Ohio state), pleaded guilty to two felony charges, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft told reporters in Washington.

Ashcroft described Faris as a Kashmiri.

According to US government records, Lyman Faris's original name is Mohammed Rauf and he came to the US in May 1994. He became a US citizen in December 1999.

He worked as an independent trucker for several years.

Rauf came into contact with the Al Qaeda through one of its senior operatives, who the government says, he had known since the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s.

Ashcroft said Rauf 'led a secret double life' - as a truck driver and as one who "travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He covertly met with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and joined the jihad against America, scouring sites for acts of terrorism in the United States."

Under an agreement with the justice department unsealed on Thursday, Rauf pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support.

According to the agreement, filed with the US district court in Alexandria in the Greater Washington area on May 1, Rauf has consented to cooperate with government investigators.

Rauf, according to the prosecution, is believed to have received instructions directly from senior Al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is in US custody and has provided interrogators with valuable intelligence about the terror group's worldwide reach.

A government affidavit said Rauf was instructed by a senior Al Qaeda operative to obtain 'gas cutters' to sever cables on 'a bridge in New York City' believed to have been the busy Brooklyn Bridge.

Rauf was told to refer to the cutters as 'gas stations' so that eavesdroppers would not get wind of the plot.

In addition, the senior Al Qaeda operative told him to obtain tools that could be used to derail trains in the US, the affidavit says.

These tools were to be referred to in code as 'mechanics shops'.

None of the planned attacks occurred.

The meetings with Al Qaeda operatives occurred in 2000, 2001 and early 2002 in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the government statement.

They included meetings with two senior Al Qaeda leaders, one believed to be Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other labelled as bin Laden's 'right foot'. Rauf met bin Laden in 2000, the statement said.

Rauf reportedly researched the bridge on the Internet and travelled to New York in late 2002 to examine it, concluding that 'the plot to destroy the bridge by severing the cables was very unlikely to succeed' because of its security and structure.

He was also asked by the Al Qaeda in late 2000 to look into the possibility of using ultralight aircraft as escape planes, prosecutors said.

In addition, he helped Al Qaeda obtain 2,000 lightweight sleeping bags that were shipped to Afghanistan for use by bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members, they said.

PTI