Many Muslim men are a threat to Britain

British police warn of Islamic threat:

Britain faces a potential terrorist threat from "very many" Muslim men who returned to Britain after spending time in training camps in Afghanistan, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said yesterday.

Sir Ian Blair, whose force, with MI5, leads anti-terrorism work in Britain, was asked if he supported the assertion of the Prime Minister earlier this week that there were "several hundred people in the UK plotting terror attacks".

The commissioner told LBC radio in London: "Yes, I am aware of the fact that there are very many people who came back from the camps in Afghanistan and who are therefore potentially a threat to the United Kingdom.

"And I agree with the Prime Minister's assessment, on that basis, that there are hundreds of people who came back from the camps and are now in the United Kingdom, and that is a very dangerous issue for us all."

Scotland Yard sources made clear Sir Ian was referring to training camps run by al-Qa'eda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which were destroyed in the military campaign by American and British forces after the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001.

Security chiefs have said privately for some time that the radicalising influence of the "jihadists" who attended the camps and went to Muslim-related conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya and Kashmir is at the heart of the threat to Britain.

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