London, Jan 07: Britain's intelligence agency MI5 has
drawn up a list of 100 British Muslims currently fighting in
Iraq and alerted immigration officials to look out for them
and detain them.
The security service is preparing for a "backwash" of
highly trained guerrilla fighters returning to Britain, the
Mail on Sunday reported.
It feared that the group would form a new hardcore of
terrorist recruiters similar to jailed cleric Abu Hamza, who
came back from fighting in Afghanistan to preach hatred at
the Finsbury Park Mosque.
Government sources said MI5 has a "working figure" of 50
known British recruits involved in Iraq terror attacks against
coalition forces - but the true figure is likely to be double
that number because of the difficulty in tracking movements in
and out of Iraq.
"Immigration officials in Britain and across Europe are
being warned to be on the look out for returning fighters,"
the source told the tabloid.
"These people have knowledge of weapons and are prepared
to use them. They are also potential recruiters for a new
generation of terrorists."
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, January 07, 2007, 00:00