NYC bomb plotter said he hoped bombs killed many

The federal trial of Adis Medunjanin started Monday in New York.

 A confessed terror plotter calmly told a jury how he acquired the ingredients to make the bombs that he and his co-conspirators planned to detonate on New York subway trains during rush hour, killing many.

If the attack was against the United States, then it was "moral," Najibullah Zazi said Wednesday during his second day of testimony in federal court in New York.

Zazi, the mastermind behind a plot to rig backpacks with explosives and blow them up on trains, is testifying this week against Adis Medunjanin, the only member of the trio on trial.

During his testimony, Zazi detailed how he bought the chemicals from beauty shops and other ingredients from Wal-Mart and Lowe's, and then searched for crowded areas to detonate the explosives.

Zazi, an immigrant from Pakistan, and Zerein Ahmedzay, an immigrant from Afghanistan, have already pleaded guilty to terror charges.

Zazi said the group was trained in Pakistan by al Qaeda in late 2008 and early 2009, and then returned to the United States with instructions to attack.

The group decided to detonate three bombs on a busy subway train near the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Zazi said.

But e-mails, that were monitored by authorities, may have helped to foil the plot.

Prosecutors in court showed several e-mails they say were sent by Zazi in which he asks a person in al Qaeda about a formula for a bomb.

Robert Gottlieb, Medunjanin's lawyer, during cross examination tried to show that his client had had a falling out with Zazi before the plot was created.

Medunjanin's trial is expected to last three weeks.