‘600 UK Muslims set to fight '

A British Muslim who has travelled to Pakistan to support the Taliban has claimed there are more than 600 other British men in the region backing the regime.

And Hassan Butt, 21, from Manchester, said he and other British Muslims would have no qualms whatsoever about killing British soldiers if they were deployed in Afghanistan.

He said most of the British were in Mujhadeen training camps in Afghanistan, preparing for the deployment of coalition forces.

The former Wolverhampton University student was pictured on Sky News at a rally in Lahore, barking into a loudspeaker: ‘‘I urge you to wake up and realise this is not a war against the Taliban. It’s a war against Islam.’’

Bearded Mr Butt, who is allegedly a leader of London-based Al-Muhajiroun - a radical Islamic group committed to jihad - insisted that his only loyalty was to Islam and fellow Muslims, not to the British Government.

He was joined by a second Briton who called himself Abdul, but refused to give his real name. Abdul said he was a convert to Islam from Christianity and he too vowed to fight against coalition forces in the event of a ground war.