Nimrod-fly som driver elektronisk avlytting over Afghanistan, hører Taliban-soldater snakke Midlands-dialekt. Det er britiske muslimer som har vervet seg til å slåss mot NATO og britene.

Specialists in top secret surveillance planes listened in on radio traffic broadcast by the Taliban in Helmand province and heard fighters talking in thick regional accents.

The discovery indicates that a growing number of British-born Muslims are turning their backs on the West and moving to Afghanistan to be trained as fighters.

It has been reported that RAF radio operators were able to hear the young fighters speaking in clear Bradford and West Bromwich accents.

The linguistics experts were listening to the conversations from specially adapted Nimrod planes flying above the province.

The Taliban reportedly spoke mainly in Afghan Persian or Pashto – but when they were stuck for words, they would slip back into their native language.

En talsmann for Muslim Council of Britain er overrasket, men synes likevel ikke det er så rart at noen blir radikalisert av britenes utenrikspolitikk.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, expressed his shock at the report.

He said he was aware that some British Muslims travelled to Afghanistan to fight when hostilities began in 2001.

He had heard of no cases since then, but accepted it was «not beyond the bounds of possibility», given that the conflict had lasted so long.

Mr Bunglawala said: «I do know that when the initial bombing was occurring in late 2001, there was a lot of sympathy for the Afghan people, who had endured so much.

«I am surprised if people are going now. I wasn’t surprised then, but I am surprised now.

«That’s the effect of the conflict having dragged on. We were told it would all be over in a few weeks, but the end is still not in sight.»

He urged British Muslims opposed to the war in Afghanistan to protest peacefully using the democratic means available in the UK.

«I don’t think it can be denied that our actions overseas have contributed to some British Muslims being radicalised,» he said.

daily mail