Blair seeks global conference on Islamic extremism

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said he was considering hosting a conference to bring together all countries affected by Islamic extremism.

"We all know the roots of this go very, very deep. They aren't always to be found in our own country but to be found in other countries."

He said that 26 countries since 1993 had been affected.

Meanwhile, the British Government announced that extremists who use radical preaching, websites or inflammatory articles to incite others to commit acts of terrorism will face automatic vetting before being allowed into the country.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said officials would draw up a list of "unacceptable" activities intended to promote or provoke terrorism in the wake of the London bombings.

The Home Office, Foreign Office and intelligence agencies will compile a database of individuals "around the world" who have demonstrated such behaviour.

Any individuals on that index seeking to enter Britain will have their cases referred to ministers with a view to possible exclusion from the country.

The announcement came after it emerged that all 56 victims of the July 7 attacks had now been identified.

Mr Clarke said a total of 27 people were still receiving hospital treatment and warned the death toll could yet rise.

There was growing anger yesterday over the comments of the radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who said that the British Government and public shared some of the blame for the July 7 attacks on the capital.

Mr Clarke told MPs: "In the circumstances we now face, I've decided that it's right to broaden the use of these powers to deal with those who foment terrorism or seek to provoke others to terrorist acts. To this end, I intend to draw up a list of unacceptable behaviours which would fall within this. For example, preaching, running a website or writing articles which are intended to foment or provoke terrorism.

Mr Clarke added that he would follow the approach set out in the case of Bakri Mohammed and other individuals whose names were in the public domain.

The government announced it had reached agreement in principle with Jordan which will allow Britain to deport Jordanian nationals without fear of them being mistreated.

One cleric who could now face deportation is Jordanian-born Abu Qatada, who has been described as "bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe".

The mangled carriage where seven people died in the Edgware Road Tube blast was removed from the track on Tuesday night.

Only one of the four blast sites King's Cross now remains a crime scene.

Earlier Mr Blair defended the intelligence services in the wake of a leaked paper from the Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, which, just weeks before the bombings, said that "at present there is not a group with both the current intent and the capability to attack the UK".

"I'm satisfied they do everything that is possible to protect our country," he said.

However, the father of one of the September 11 hijackers said he had no sorrow for what had happened in London and claimed more terrorist attacks would follow.

Egyptian Mohamed el-Amir, whose son Mohamed Atta hijacked the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, said there was a double standard in the way the world viewed the victims in London and victims in the Islamic world.