A Malaysian was to be trained as a pilot by al-Qaeda to crash a plane into a Los Angeles skyscraper but told officials he pulled out after witnessing the September 11 attacks in 2001, a former security official said today.

US President George W Bush has said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be one of the masterminds of the 2001 attacks, planned to hijack a plane and fly the jet into LA's tallest building, the 310-metre US Bank Tower, also known as Library Tower.

Bush said that instead of using Arab hijackers, as in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the plot called for "young men from Southeast Asia whom he believed would not arouse as much suspicion."

An ex-top security official in Malaysia said today that Malaysian engineer Zaini Zakaria was among three men that were being trained by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network to take part in the attack.

Zaini had been sent to train in the movement's camps located in Afghanistan in 1999, the former security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It was in these camps that he met the network's top people, including Hambali, a leader of the al-Qaeda affiliate Jemaah Islamiah, he said.

Plan never materialised

Zaini then returned to Malaysia and obtained a licence to fly a small plane, and was to have started learning how to fly a jet in Australia.

"That part of the plan never materialised. Malaysian authorities managed to detain him in 2002," said the source.

Zaini, who was never told about the details of his mission, later told Malaysian officials that he decided to pull out of the plan after he witnessed the September 11 tragedy.

Zaini claimed that he did not want "that kind of jihad," he said. The airplane plot was later foiled with the help of Asian nations and never got beyond the discussion stage.

He is currently being held under the Internal Security Act, which allows for two-year detention periods that can be renewed indefinitely.

Over 100 people are detained under ISA, more than 80 of whom are alleged Islamic militants.