Muslim group backed by hate preacher Anjem Choudary called IED 'mocks Britain’s war dead' with its name

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary is backing a new Muslim group accused of using its name to ridicule British soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Islamic Emergency Defence is already being shortened to IED, which also stands for the Improvised Explosive Devices used to kill or maim soldiers abroad. 

Anjem Choudary, who said Drummer Lee Rigby 'will burn in hellfire' after he was executed on a Woolwich street a month ago, has an advisory role with the group.

The new organisation says it has been set up to stop 'violent hooligans willing to inflict large scale carnage on innocent Muslims'. 

They have also set up an emergency hotline for Muslims to call them instead of the police so incidents can be 'dealt with in a swift and Islamic manner'.

Their website adds: 'Our aim is to build a national network of Muslim volunteers who are ready and able to protect and defend any Muslim from verbal and physical abuse.

'Muslims should not be afraid to protect themselves or their brothers and sisters from acts of violence or hooliganism, because it is totally rational, sensible and above all: Islamic'.

Critics have called Islamic Emergency Defence a vigilante group and said its name was inflammatory, but their members say its bomb-linked initials are a 'pure coincidence'. 

'This is mocking Servicemen killed by IEDs.

 It shows their warped state of mind,' Former Scotland Yard terrorism expert John O'Connor told The Sun.

Website: The Islamic Emergency Defence group encourages Muslims to call their hotline instead of police when they are attacked

But Choudary has used Twitter to urge people to join up and use the group as he announced the 'Good news with the launch', adding it had 'risen to the challenge'.

Defending its task forces he added: 'People can look at it as a vigilante group but to protect and defend yourself is not illegal'.

• But politicians have today stepped in to criticise. 
• 
  

'What is hoped to be achieved by this except offence and tension?' Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said.

Labour MP Rushanara Ali added: 'When groups encourage people to take the law into their own hands it needs to be stopped.'

The Home Office has said the group is 'under review'.