Three men have been found guilty of conspiring to cause mass murder.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, of Prospect Hill, Walthamstow, Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Nottingham Road, Leyton, have been convicted along with Assad Sarwar, of High Wycombe.

Three of the eight men on trial had pleaded guilty to plotting to cause an explosion, and seven had admitted plotting to cause a public nuisance.

Mohammad Gulzar, of Barking, was cleared at Woolwich Crown Court.

The eight men were accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners with home-made liquid explosives, disguised as soft drinks.

But after more than 50 hours of deliberations, the jury did not find any of the defendants guilty of conspiring to target aircraft.

The jury were unable to reach verdicts on Waheed Zaman, 23, of Queen's Road, Walthamstow, Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Folkstone Road, Walthamstow, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Farnan Avenue, Walthamstow, and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, of High Wycombe.

Prosecutors alleged that the eight men were planning to carry liquid explosives on to planes at Heathrow bound for north America.

Police claimed the plot was inspired by Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

The August 2006 arrests across Waltham Forest caused chaos at airports throughout the country.

Members of the muslim community in the borough said they felt under siege in the aftermath of the police operation.

The seven men who had recorded videos denouncing Western foreign policy said they had only planned to make a political point and were not planning to kill anyone.

Responding to the verdicts Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "I know many people will want to with me in thanking the police and security services who by disrupting this group have saved countless lives."