Al-Ghozi may yet face murder charges, prosecutors said

Earlier he had claimed that he had only helped obtain funds to finance the operation.

Three men were also arraigned earlier this month for alleged involvement in the blasts after being arrested at Manila airport, AP reported.

Al-Ghozi was arrested in the Philippine capital Manila in January following a tip-off by Singapore police.

Thirteen members of the Jemaah Islamiyah group were also recently arrested in Singapore - eight of whom are suspected by police of having received al-Qaeda training in Afghanistan.

'Revenge'

The group is suspected of being behind a foiled plan to attack western targets in Singapore.

The blasts in Manila on 30 December 2000 injured 120 people in addition to those 22 killed.

The bombs were planted on a train, a bus, at an abandoned petrol station, an airport car park and a park.

Al-Ghozi said he plotted the bombings as revenge against a government crackdown on a Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines.

"The truth is I planned the bombings," Al-Ghozi said.

However he claimed he had intended that no-one got hurt, saying the actual bombings were planned by men under the authority of an alleged Filipino militant called Hadji Onos, also known as Muklis, AP reported.