Mohammad Hassan bin Saynudin, 36, did not say why the Changi Airport strike was canceled.

But prosecutors told the South Jakarta District Court that he and other Jemaah Islamiyah members backed out at the last minute - they already had tickets in hand - because the media had uncovered details about their plot.

It is not the first time bin Saynudin has made such claims of responsibility.

Last month, he told Singapore's newspaper, the Straits Times, he and fugitive JI leader Mas Selamat Kastari came up with the plan because they wanted to punish the city-state for supporting the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks on Western targets since Sept. 11, 2001, including the nightclub bombings on Indonesia's resort island of Bali in 2002 that left 202 people dead, many of them foreign tourists.

They've also been linked to several foiled plots in the region - including the Singapore airport strike.

Bin Saynudin and nine other suspected members of his group were arrested in July for allegedly planning to attack a bar on Indonesia's western island of Sumatra with 22 explosive devices packed with bullets.

They are also accused of fatally shooting an Indonesian teacher in 2007 and trying to kill two Catholic priests in 2005. They face charges ranging from illegal possession of explosives and murder to plotting a terrorist attack and harboring fugitives.

Bin Saynudin was speaking Thursday at the trial of two of those men, Anis Sugandi and Sukarso Abdillah.

"We'd been planning to attack Changi airport by hijacking a Russian Aeroflot" from Bangkok, Thailand, he told the court, adding plans to bomb the Indonesian bar were dropped after the men found out some Muslims were inside.

"Muslims may not be killed or harmed, whatever the reason," he said.

Some of the 10 men blamed for the attacks are being tried separately because charges or punishment varies. They face a maximum penalty of life in prison if found guilty of the most serious charges.

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