Jakarta – A young Islamic militant accused of involvement in last year's bombing of a US-run hotel in Indonesia told a court on Monday he had targeted Americans and regretted that all but one of those killed were his countrymen.

Prosecutors charged Mohamad Rais, 28, with helping to organise the deadly bombing of the J W Marriott hotel. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The bombing killed 12 p150.

"I'm remorseful because Muslims became victims. The ones who I targeted were Americans. Now I have to be accountable because I was indeed involved in the Marriott bombing," he told the court before the judge adjourned proceedings until February 4.

Rais, whose hearing began on Monday, is only the second suspect to go on trial over the Jakarta incident in which militants detonated a bomb-laden car in front of the hotel lobby on August 5 last year.

The trial of the first defendant in the case began in November in Bengkulu on the island of Sumatra. He is accused of having stored explosives used in the blast.

"The defendant, along with Azahari and Noordin M.Top, from September 2002 to January 2003, plotted and arranged for other people to carry out an act of terror," state prosecutor Andi Herman told the South Jakarta court.

Malaysian engineer Azahari is believed to be the master bombmaker for several attacks staged by the militant Jemaah Islamiah group, a Southeast Asian organisation with links to al Qaeda.

Authorities say Top – also a Malaysian – is Azahari's sidekick. Both are among Southeast Asia's most wanted men.

The prosecution said Rais also arranged the transport of bombmaking chemicals in Sumatra, before others carried them to Jakarta where Azahari built the device in mid-2003. Three Indonesians have been sent to death row for involvement in acts of terror.

All were plotters and organisers of the nightclub bombings on the tourist island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, in October 2002. Jemaah Islamiah was also blamed for the Bali blast.