Al-Qaeda inspired extremists recruit Muslims youths for jihad

Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists in Britain used the premises of a mosque in south London to recruit Muslim youths and encouraged them to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training, a media report claimed on Sunday. In the first insider account of how radicals are preying on vulnerable Muslim youths, an 18-year old teenager described being approached by Islamic extremists at the Stockwell mosque that was used by bombers, who plotted the failed 21/7 terror attack on London's transport network. Aged 15, Adam, whose real name was withheld by the paper, was the youngest of about 50 "recruits" who were shown "martyrdom" videos and encouraged to travel to Pakistan to receive terrorist training, The Sunday Times said. "They showed us a jihadist video with the martyrdom flags behind the guy speaking, and the message I got was that I should prepare myself to martyrdom. "I know a few of the others accepted that they would go (for training in Pakistan). Some of the young people said, "'I'm going to go'," the youth told the paper. While Adam quit the group after a year, the whereabouts of most of the other recruits is unknown, the report said. Adam's new mentors were Mohammed Hamid, a preacher with links to the 21/7 bombers who called himself Osama Bin London, and Atilla Ahmet, a former aide to Abu Hamza, the cleric of Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

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