Omar Bakri, the Al Qaeda-linked Islamist cleric who fled Britain after the 7/7 bombings, has called for death to all Muslim soldiers.

ONE of Britain’s most notorious Islamist preachers has warned that any Muslim joining the army should expect to be beheaded.

Omar Bakri, who fled Britain weeks after the 7/7 London bombings, said on the internet that Muslim troops were “apostates”.

His video was posted shortly after the death of the first British Muslim to die on active service in the war on terror. The killing last year of Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, is said to have inspired the alleged plot to kidnap, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier in Birmingham.

This weekend, Bakri confirmed that he endorsed the execution of British Muslim soldiers captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. “British Muslims who join the army and kill other Muslims are terrorists,” he said.

Bakri, who led the banned Al-Muhajiroun group, continues to direct his followers in Britain with messages through secure websites. On the video, he says: “I hope they capture British Muslims who are really in the army there in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are apostates.” He adds:

“We will strike your neck.”

Bakri’s comments will fuel concerns that radicals are fomenting terrorism because the authorities fear alienating Muslim communities.

“Concerns.” Yes, it is somewhat concerning.

It took British authorities three weeks to respond to the Channel 4 documentary on hate speech and incitement to violence in UK “mainstream” mosques: Cops seize secret film of mosque rant.

POLICE holding the Birmingham terror suspects have seized secret TV footage of an Islamic preacher praising the death of a British Muslim soldier in Afghanistan.

The mystery cleric - now being urgently hunted by detectives - ranted about the dead serviceman at a meeting in a Birmingham mosque. He said: “There was an individual killed in Afghanistan recently. Do you know what was written in a newspaper? Hero of Islam! The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders!”

The hate-filled speech at the meeting in Jamia Mosque in the mainly Asian neighbourhood of Sparkbrook was secretly filmed by an undercover reporter for an edition of the Channel 4 series Dispatches screened last month.

During the session the preacher hailed the death of Jabron Hashmi, 24, a British Muslim Lance Corporal killed by the Taliban in Helmand Province in July last year.

Tapes of the programme were seized on Thursday in the week nine men were arrested over a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier. A West Midlands Police source said: “These tapes could be crucial to the investigation.