Three British Muslims killed while 'fighting for the Taliban'

Three British Muslims have been killed fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, the radical group Al-Muhajiroun revealed yesterday.

Aftab Manzoor, 25, and Afzal Munir, in his early 20s, from Luton, Bedfordshire, were killed in action, the London-based Islamic group said. It also named Yasir Khan, from Crawley, as having died, in US-led bombing raids on the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Fears of a racist backlash increased within the area's Muslim community of 20,000 people after pictures of Manzoor's home were published in a local newspaper.

Two unnamed American Muslims, who had also joined the Taliban, were said to have been killed when a missile hit a house where they were holding a meeting.

The Foreign Office could not confirm the British deaths as the Government has no diplomatic contact with the Taliban, a spokesman said.

Unconfirmed reports continued to circulate last night that a fourth British man, Mohammad Umar, had also died. Hasan Butt, leader of the Al-Muhajiroun in Lahore, Pakistan, said: "We have learned from our contacts that [the men] were martyred by the American bombing on Wednesday."

Anti-racist groups in Luton are worried about the growing numbers of British Muslims they say are supporting the Taliban. Akbar Khan, who runs the Building Bridges group in Luton, said: "There's a lot of unhappiness among Muslims here and the rest of the country about the attitude of the West."