British Muslims are killing our troops
BRITISH troops in Afghanistan are being killed by Muslim fanatics from the UK who have joined forces with the Taliban.
The radicals have linked up with insurgents in Helmand where thousands of British troops are fighting on the frontline of the war against terror. Only yesterday it claimed four more soldiers’ lives.
Last week on a visit to Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary David Miliband was shown Taliban bombs containing British-made components. They had either been sent from Britain or brought from the UK by a home-grown recruit.
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Taliban fighters with Yorkshire and West Midlands accents have also been heard talking in intercepted communications, according to a security agency briefing.
Radicalised young British-born Muslims are known to have been going to Iraq and Afghanistan as “seemingly committed jihadists” to join the insurgencies.
One analyst said British soldiers were effectively in a “surreal civil war” being fought thousands of miles from home.
The evidence for British jihadists in Afghanistan is based on radio eavesdropping by British forces, both by troops on the ground and on RAF Nimrods above the war zone.
One senior military source said: “We have been hearing a lot more Punjabi, Urdu and Kashmiri Urdu rather than just Pashtu, so there appears to be more men from other parts of Pakistan fighting with the Taliban than just the Pashtuns who have tribal allegiances with the Afghan Pashtuns.
There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK.
“It is this second group, the Urdu, Punjabi speakers etc, who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents. You get the impression that they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes simply can’t help it.”
The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler, said: “There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places such as Kandahar.
“There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands but the British public does not.”
Last night Tory MP and former infantry officer Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons counter terrorism sub committee, said: “I am aware from the troops I have spoken to that there are British-born insurgents working and fighting with the Taliban.
"The evidence is principally from intercepting their radio communications. But in Iraq British troops found bodies of insurgents and they were as certain as they could be that they were British.
“We know the problem we have with UK-based jihadists. We also know that a number of them have been arrested trying to leave the country.
“With the UK intelligence services at full stretch, it is not surprising some of these jihadists have ended up in Afghanistan.”
Tory defence spokesman Gerald Howarth said that Britons who joined the Taliban must be prosecuted but the actions of a minority should not threaten community relations in Britain. The numbers are thought to be in the dozens rather than hundreds, reflecting the fact that the vast majority of British Muslims want to live in peace.
Earlier this year the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, said the number of extremists heading to Iraq had “tailed off significantly” as Britain prepared to withdraw. But there was “traffic” into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“What happens in Afghanistan is extremely important because what happens there has a direct impact on domestic security in the UK,” he added.
