Britain: One in four Muslims believe the authorities or security services were in some way involved in the July 7 terror attacks

Daily Mail:

Almost 60 per cent believe the Government has covered up the truth about the July 7 terror attacks, a survey reveals.

A similar proportion say they do not believe that the four men identified as the suicide bombers were actually responsible, despite the fact that they were caught on CCTV and left 'martyrdom' videos.

The poll of 500 Muslims will come as a serious blow to Ministers on the day of a high-profile conference aimed at improving relations with the British Muslim community.

Fifty-nine per cent of those questioned believed the Government had not told the public the whole truth about the 2005 attacks on London's transport network.

More generally, over half believed that secret services had 'made up' evidence to convict terrorist suspects.

Fifty-seven per cent were not confident they would be treated fairly if arrested in Britain and 46 per cent felt police tactics after the arrest of a Muslim terror suspect were racist.

Questioned about the rise in militant groups, nearly seven in ten respondents said the Muslim community bore no responsibility for the emergence of extremists willing to attack UK targets, although 58 per cent felt the community should be doing more. The survey was carried out across Britain by GfK NOP for Channel 4 News.

Six in ten said they were extremely worried that British police could shoot to kill people suspected of being terrorists.

But 80 per cent said they had not considered the possibility of leaving the UK on the grounds that Britain offered no future for Muslims.

The more strident views from the poll were disowned last night by the Muslim Council of Great Britain.

Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said: "This is indefensible. Most people who would examine the facts with a level head would realise that this (7/7) is not some conspiracy.

"But as with the assassination of JFK, regrettably these kind of incidents become a cause celebre for conspiracy theorists.

"I think that this particular government has also engendered a lot of distrust. Some people will always be determined to believe that Muslims could not have been behind such an act of mass murder and to this end they are vulnerable to conspiracy theorists.

"The Muslim Council has always asked for a public inquiry into the July 7 bombings and that inquiry would have put this scepticism to bed for good."

The conference in London today, organised by the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, is aimed at fostering greater understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims living side by side. David Cameron is among the speakers and Tony Blair will also attend.

Recently it emerged that MI5 allowed two of the July 7 bombers to slip through their fingers before the attack.

Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were photographed four times by the security services meeting members of an Al Qaeda cell who were plotting to use a huge fertiliser bomb in what would have been the UK's largest mass murder.

Khan and his fellow bombers, Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Jermaine Lindsay, all died in July 2005 when they detonated their rucksack bombs on three Tube trains and a bus, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds.

Muslims: 'Bombers innocent'