Islamic group: 9/11 'was towering day in history'

Islamic extremists in the UK today hailed the terrorists responsible for the September 11 terrorist atrocities on the third anniversary of the attack.

Anjem Choudary, of radical group Al-Muhajiroun, described Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, as a “Muslim brother” and claimed he would be elected leader in any Muslim country.

Al-Muhajiroun, which vowed that one day the Islamic flag will fly in Downing Street, had planned to stage a conference in London this evening to mark the third anniversary of September 11 but it was called it off on police advice.

Instead Mr Choudary held a news conference in the capital to declare that there had been positive outcomes as a result of 9/11. He said the act had divided the world into two separate camps, Muslim and non-Muslim.

Of bin Laden, he said: “He is my fellow Muslim brother. We believe in the same God, we believe in the same messenger … whether he is an oppressor or oppressed.

“I do not believe he is an oppressor, he is on the right path. If you had an election in any Muslim country, he would win.”

The group described 9/11 as a “towering day” in history and it also paid tribute to the “magnificent” 19 hijackers.

Mr Choudary stressed that the hijackers were educated men from rich backgrounds.

But he said Muslims who lived in Britain, under the covenant of security, did not have the right to carry out operations in this country.

Mr Choudary denied his organisation was a military one and said that it was not involved in training people to carry out terrorism in Britain.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of Al-Muhajiroun, had been due to attend but did not show up at the last minute, with organisers claiming he had instead decided to speak to an Arab television station.

Mr Choudary added: “There is no doubt that 9/11 was a precursor for the dividing of the world into two camps. There are two types of terrorism. The type of terrorism which is praised by the almighty Allah and the type of terrorism which is dispraised.”

He also denied that the terrorists behind the Beslan school siege in Russia had targeted children and claimed that they had made reasonable demands which would have resulted in all of them being released.

He finished the press conference by saying: “Islam will rule over Britain.”