Hoon warns Taliban supporters

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today delivered a measured but dire warning to any Briton thinking of joining the Taliban: Go out there and you risk being shot by British forces, or put on trial if you return.

The extraordinary threat came as growing numbers of young Muslims from the UK were reported to be travelling to Afghanistan to defend its regime against the US-led coalition.

Mr Hoon said: "I hope that anyone who is contemplating going to Afghanistan does think very carefully about the consequences, both to them and their families, in terms of the grief they might suffer - as well as contemplating the legal action that might follow on their return, if indeed they were to return."

He was speaking at a Ministry of Defence news conference to which officials had summoned journalists from the Islamic media.

The warning of "legal action" follows suggestions from Lord Tebbit and others that British subjects who take up arms against the UK armed forces in Afghanistan could be charged with treason. However, the Home Office says treason laws are unlikely to apply because Britain is not formally at war with another country.

Mr Hoon, who was facing questions from MPs this afternoon, repeated the Government's message that the military action against Afghanistan was targeting terrorists, not Muslims.

He said: "This is not a conflict between the West and Islam. This is a conflict between right and wrong."

He also sought to counter fears that the war could be widened to include Saddam Hussein's Iraq, by repeatedly stressing that there was no evidence linking Iraq to either the terrorist attacks on 11 September or the anthrax letters in the United States.

Growing numbers of young British Muslims are trying to join the Taliban forces, it is claimed today. The London-based al-Muhajiroun group claims the death of three men from Luton and one from Crawley in American raids on Afghanistan is not deterring recruiting.

According to al-Muhajiroun, nearly 1,000 British Muslims have travelled to Afghanistan since 11 September. One recruiter on the Pakistani border claims 60 per cent of foreigners fighting for the Taliban are from Britain.

Hassan Butt, 21, from Manchester, is one of about 40 Britons in Lahore recruiting for the Taliban. He said: "I've been in contact with a thousand British Muslims who are going to the holy war. Hundreds have passed through here on their way. There are more fighters joining jihad from Britain than anywhere else in the West. News that the first Britons have been lost will not deter those who will follow."

British passport holders are believed to be among the Harkatul Mujahideen group in Afghanistan, which has close links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and is classified as a terrorist organisation. It recruits through hardline Islamic leaders.

Sources confirmed today that police in Britain are investigating the recruitment. It is understood that al-Muhajiroun and its Tottenham-based leader, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, will be the focus of attention.

A Whitehall source said: "We cannot get into talk about the numbers involved, but police are aware of this activity and investigating cases where people are going out there and trying to fight."

Those who recruit, train or conspire to enlist, and anyone who is trained in how to handle a gun or use explosives could face up to 10 years' jail under the Terrorism Act.

The four who died are thought to have been in Afghanistan for some time undergoing Taliban military training. Their base near Kabul was hit by a US missile. One victim was Aftab Manzoor, 25, a taxi driver from Luton. His father said today he had forbidden his son from leaving. Chudry Manzoor said: "I never wanted him to fight a holy war against anybody. It is an unbelievable shock for both me and my wife."

Mr Manzoor, a grocer who has travelled to Sakria, near Islamabad, to bury his son, added: "It was totally unexpected. He had told me three years ago that he wanted to fight a jihad and I told him not to. I said it was forbidden and he obeyed me." Aftab, who lived with his parents, two brothers and sister in Luton, married two years ago during a visit to Pakistan, where his wife and daughter remain.

He died alongside Afzal Munir, 25, and Muhamed Omar, in his late thirties, both from Luton, and Yasir Khan, 24, from Crawley.

But it emerged today that "martyr" Munir could not pluck up the courage to tell his parents he was leaving. He left only a note informing relatives of his fateful decision.

Munir is thought to have had links with the al-Muhajiroun. Leader Bakri said today: "Thousands of people are flooding across the world to help the Taliban. From here, there may be 200 or 300 people and families who have left this country to go and help the Taliban.

"I know of dozens of entire families who have left this country to return to Pakistan. Many people are willing to leave this country where they were born and live there abroad and respond to the Taliban's call."

There was condemnation today from a key religious leader in Luton, where Muslims fear a racist backlash.

Masood Akhdal, imam at Luton Central Mosque, said: "This is a very bad situation in Luton. There are organisations here like al-Muhajiroun and they deliberately set out to excite the young men with talk of jihad. But they don't go themselves, they are just whipping up problems.

"Believe me, families are against their sons going out to Afghanistan. No parent wants a son to die."

Khan was a regular visitor at the mosque in Crawley and had recently helped redecorate the building. He had family living in Pakistan.