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The Times Square car bomber boasted to a judge that he is a Muslim soldier at war with the US.

When asked if he was sure he wanted to admit to the terror attack, US citizen Faisal Shahzad insisted he would "plead guilty and 100 times more". The married dad-of-two, 30, told a Manhattan court that he chose the warm night of May 1 because the New York landmark would be crowded with people.

Replying to judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum's questions over whether he feared killing children, Shahzad said: "I consider myself... a Muslim soldier. It's a war. I am part of the answer to the US terrorising the Muslim nations and the Muslim people. On behalf of that, I'm revenging the attack.

"Living in the United States, Americans only care about their people but they don't care about people elsewhere in the world when they die." Shahzad told the court he armed his vehicle with three separate devices - a fertiliser-fuelled bomb packed in a gun cabinet, a set of propane tanks and gas canisters rigged with fireworks.

He added if America did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan "we will be attacking the US". The terror attack was foiled when a street vendor alerted police.

Shahzad faces life in jail after admitting 10 terrorism and weapons charges including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

He will be sentenced on October 5.