An al Qaeda terrorist who may have been planning to kill British troops in Afghanistan was yesterday jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Sohail Qureshi, 30, boasted to fellow extremists that he planned to "kill many" during a two-to-three week mission.

Qureshi, of Palmerston Road, Forest Gate, east London admitted preparing for terrorism, the first person convicted on the charge under the Terrorism Act 2006.

Detectives were angered by what they saw as a light sentence for the crime which carries a maximum life sentence, especially since he may have been planning to kill British soldiers.

After serving half his sentence, minus the 432 days he has already been on remand, he will be out in about a year.

Qureshi, a qualified dentist who speaks five languages, is said to have had contact with al Qaeda since the mid-1990s.

He described in an online conversation how he had once been the "emir" or leader of a terrorism training camp in Pakistan, police revealed.

Born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia, Qureshi spent seven years in Russia where he received his dental training, arriving in the UK in 2004.

He said on a chatlog that he was sent to this country by al Qaeda for fundraising, saying "bullets cost money".

Qureshi, a British citizen, worked as a dental assistant in Barking, earning about £1100 a month.

In October 2006 he was arrested at Heathrow Airport as he was about to board a plane to Islamabad.

He was carrying nearly £9000 in cash, a night sight and military manuals stored on computer discs.

Qureshi had prepared for his journey by contacting "lyrical terrorist" Samina Malik, who worked airside at WH Smith, about airport security.

Malik, who wrote poems about martyrdom and the beheading of unbelievers, received a suspended jail term last year after a library of material for terrorist purposes was discovered at her home in Southall, west London.

She had claimed she had nothing to do with terrorism.

Qureshi asked her in an email: "Sis, I hope you get this e-mail before anyone else. What is the situation like at work? Is the checking still very harsh or have things calmed down a bit?"

While the pair never met, police said they established a "virtual relationship" and were on each other's "buddies" lists on extremist forums Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey that he was planning to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Waziristan, a tribal region of Pakistan.

In a message on an extremist website he wrote: "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge revenge."

Police discovered his eight-page "al wida" or farewell message, in which he wrote: "If I am to become a Shaheed (martyr), then cry not and celebrate that day as if you celebrate a happy occasion."

Qureshi pleaded guilty to a charge of preparing for terrorism as well as counts of possessing an article for a terrorist purpose and possessing a record likely to be useful in terrorism.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, said they were "grave charges" but what he did was at the "lower end" of the spectrum.

Andrew Hall QC, for Qureshi, said he was "something of a Walter Mitty character" who may have been "living in a fantasy world, exaggerating what he was doing and playing a role to impress others".

Scotland Yard anti-terror chief, Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said: "Qureshi is a trained and committed terrorist, who by his own admission had contacts within al Qaeda since the mid-1990s."