LONDON - THE JURY in the trial in Britain of eight Islamic fundamentalists accused of exploding bombs on transatlantic flights was discharged on Wednesday for legal reasons.

The trial had only begun on Tuesday. A new jury at the top-security Woolwich Crown Court in south London for the trial will be sworn in at an undetermined time.

It was not immediately clear why judge Richard Henriques took the decision to dismiss the jury.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar, both 28, along with Tanvir Hussain, 27; Ibrahim Savant, 28; Arafat Waheed Khan, 27; Waheed Zaman, 24; Umar Islam, 30, and 22-year-old Donald Stewart-Whyte, are charged with one count of conspiracy to murder.

Islam, Zaman, Khan, Savant and Stewart-Whyte also stand accused of one additional count of conspiracy to murder.

The eight men deny all of the charges against them. -- AFP