One of the UK’s most unapologetic Islamic supremacists, Anjem Choudary, has been caught inciting violence (again!) on a password-protected web site: UK preacher in secret web call for jihad.

ONE of Britain’s most vocal, extremist preachers has been using a false name on a secret website to incite Muslim followers to go on jihad, or holy war, in Somalia.

Anjem Choudary, former spokesman of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun, has posted a statement on a jihadist internet forum telling followers they must join the “divine call of jihad” in the African state.

His call in the password-protected site came days before America mounted air raids on suspected Al-Qaeda units in southern Somalia and news emerged that seven British passport holders had been captured in Somalia by Ethiopian troops.

This weekend the Ethiopian embassy in London said its forces had five Britons in custody, although it has failed to provide any documentary evidence. The Britons are said to have been fighting against the interim Somali government alongside the Union of Islamic Courts, an Al-Qaeda-linked movement.

Choudary is a well-known figure on the forum called Followers of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’aah Muntada (Followers of the Prophet and His Companions). The site, which has about 700 members, is visited by some of Britain’s most notorious Muslim extremists, members of groups such as Al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect, offshoots of Al-Muhajiroun and banned after the London bombings on July 7, 2005. Applicants have to be recommended by a member.

Choudary, who uses the pseudonym Abou Luqman, declares in the forum: “The Ethiopians, with … support (from the Christian crusader regimes) and backed by illegitimate Israel (Zionists), have violated the blood of Muslims in Somalia. By committing such an act of terrorism the Muslims in Somalia and nearby lands have responded to the divine call of jihad.”

He then reminds followers of their duty to fight jihad: “The obligation of supporting jihad all over the world is fard ayn (an individual obligation) … This honourable act must be carried out according to your own capabilities because our beloved prophet Muhammad said strike the mushrik (infidels) with your wealth, hands and tongue.”

The forum has videos and images produced by Al-Qaeda that call on Muslims to join the jihad. Images of corpses of Ethiopian soldiers are captioned “dead kuffar (infidel) bodies”.

The Guardian has details of a fundraising trip to Britain by the Somali Islamic Courts, to finance their jihad—with the tacit approval of the UK Foreign Office: Somali Islamists held UK meeting to raise funds.

Somalia’s Islamist movement, whose leadership is accused by the US of sheltering some of al-Qaida’s most wanted operatives, sent a delegation on a fundraising trip to Britain last year, the Guardian has learned. Led by an Islamist minister, the Union of Islamic Courts delegation received pledges of funding from members of Britain’s Somali diaspora at a meeting at a north London school in November.

According to one community leader, the Somali delegation also met sympathisers at the Finsbury Park mosque, which became notorious as a recruiting ground for radical Islam under its former imam Abu Hamza. Abdiwali Mohamud, a Somali community worker in Camden, said: “They were trying to influence people in a Muslim way, saying are you with us or with the unbelievers?”

Although they were not officially recognised by Britain, the Islamists also held talks with Foreign Office officials, who urged them to negotiate with Somalia’s government.

The Foreign Office meeting underlines the strikingly different approaches taken by the US - which describes the Islamists as “extremists to the core” and targeted Somalia with an air strike this week - and Britain, which accepts that there were moderate elements within the UIC.

Around 500 people attended the Islamists’ fundraising meeting at the Islington Arts and Media School, according to a British Somali who was in the audience. A delegation led by Omar Mohammed Mahamoud Aftooje, the Islamist minister responsible for reconstruction, appealed for financial help.

“They talked about the progress they made in Mogadishu, how they defeated the warlords,” the audience member, who requested anonymity, told the Guardian. “More than 20 people donated �1,000 each, some people said �100, others �300, some of them gave cash on the spot, others gave bank details or agreed to transfer money. They said the money was for repairing roads in Mogadishu.”