Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of the Al-Muhajiroun group, insisted last night that despite international condemnation of the recruiting drive, it was the duty of these young Britons to join the jihad, or holy war. He claims to have enlisted the services of between 600 and 700 volunteers from mosques and universities in Britain. Competing groups also advertise on the Internet, telling young volunteers where they can get weapons training at camps abroad. They use photographs of British recruits killed in the fighting in Kosovo and Chechnya to persuade others to take their place.
Hundreds do so every year.
The recruitment of one such recruit, Omar Mohammad, occurred at a fringe meeting of fellow young British Muslims at his university in London. He left London this year without telling his parents or tutors. Like countless young men before him, Omar was taken to a camp in a remote corner of Pakistan. There he was taught to ride a horse and to live off the land. He said that it was like being a Boy Scout on an adventure training course, except that his training included firing automatic weapons and a rudimentary grasp of explosives.