POSING menacingly under a banner that proclaims ‘The Lions of Islam', these devoted terror recruits are in training to target coalition forces in Iraq.
But this is no Pakistani madrassa or Middle Eastern fanatics' boot camp.
Look closer and it's apparant these mad-eyed soldiers preparing for Jihad are WESTERNERS. And that their training is taking place in EUROPE—possibly even in southern ENGLAND.
Our pictures were taken from a chilling recruitment video posted on a secret website used by UK al-Qaeda supporters. Terror expert Neil Doyle told the News of the World: "You can see that these guys are white. It shows that terrorist training camps could already be here among us."
It also shows the net of Islamic extremism has widened, bringing new headaches to already over-stretched police and security services trying to avert attacks against targets here and in Iraq.
The Lions of Islam group claims in the video to have already struck against coalition forces in Iraq and urges other Muslims in the West to join forces with them to "weaken and beat" the "unbelievers".
Mr Doyle, author of Terror Base UK, said: "The scariest part is that these people, already recruited, are not from Pakistan or Iraq. They've got jeans and T-shirts that you would see in any high street in Britain."
He added: "The landscape is just like the Home Counties."
Targets
The video—on a password protected site—surfaced as police continued to question 14 men suspected of being involved in the first British-based school for Islamic terrorists.
Their arrests followed a nine-month surveillance operation centred on the Jameah Islamiyah Islamic school in Catt's Hill, near Crowborough, Sussex.
The Lions of Islam video shows an unrelated group of men, along with their leader Abu Omar al-Chechani, training on a remote hilltop bounded by wooded areas.
The terror trainees are seen firing live rounds at targets in bushes as a Jihad anthem wails in the background.
Spent casings can be seen streaming from the side of one of the weapons.
Four men then practise storming a wrecked bus and the recruits are taught how to conceal roadside bombs, of a type which have already killed scores of coalition troops in Iraq.
As the film ends, it makes this menacing threat to Westerners in English: "We will deal with the worshippers of the cross and those who align with them from the disbelievers and hypocrites and make them a bounty in the hands of the Mujahideen.
"We call upon all Muslims who reside in the land of the infidels to join us and not to rely on the fact that the war is far away from their homelands.
"We ask for all possible aid and support for this movement so that Allah becomes a thorn in the throat of the kuffar (unbeliever)."
Invaders
Mr Doyle said: "The standard of English on the slogans seems to suggest more than a passing British involvement.
"I obviously can't say for certain that these guys are British, but the fact that al-Qaeda's been as active here as almost anywhere else in the world makes it impossible to rule out British involvement."
A statement in Arabic on the video says: "Good news to the brothers in the land of the non-believers. A new group named The Lions of Islam has been created.
"The group has caused numerous damages to the invaders of the land of the two rivers (Iraq).
"God-willing and with the help of the Mujahideen our forces against the unbelievers— the insidious—will increase and it will weaken and beat them."
Last week we revealed that British fundamentalists had been circulating a document describing how to set up Jihad training camps in remote areas.
It is believed new-style "foundation camps" are needed to cope with an influx of new recruits. Mr Doyle said: "Al-Qaeda leaders have ordered groups in the West to step up training and prepare more attacks against Western targets. This latest video might provide a insight into a pipeline also supplying recruits to groups fighting coalition troops in Iraq and elsewhere.
Combat
"The close quarter combat scenes could have come from an advert for our own Armed Forces.
"They're made to attract young people into fighting for their country...
"These clips are made for just the same reason."
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