Seven men were sentenced on Friday for up to 26 years in prison over an al-Qaeda-linked plot to kill hundreds in Britain and the United States.

The sentence was announced at Woolwich Crown Court in east London, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

The men were in a "sleeper cell" led by Dhiren Barot, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to kill "hundreds if not thousands" of people using explosive-packed limousines and a 'dirty' radiation bomb, the court heard.

Barot's plans also included using a petrol tanker to cause an explosion in a London Underground tunnel, said the report.

Six of the men admitted conspiracy to cause explosions and a seventh was found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Abdul Aziz Jalil, 34, from Luton, north of London, was jailed for 26 years, and Junade Feroze, 31, from Blackburn, Lancashire, for 22 years. Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 27, and Nadeem Tarmohamed, 29, from London, were each jailed for 20 years.

The seven men were sentenced between them to a total of 136 years for the terror plot.

"The outcome of this trial once again shows the extent of the very real and serious threat the UK faces from terrorism," said British Home Secretary John Reid.