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Al-Qaida recruiting college students in Britain
10/7/2005 10:40

A dossier prepared by the British government in the aftermath of the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid said al-Qaida is secretly recruiting Muslims in the country's colleges, a newspaper reported Sunday.

College students with engineering or computer expertise are the terrorist group's main targets, The Sunday Times reported, citing what it said was a copy of a secret document from the Home Office and Foreign Office.

"Extremists are known to target schools and colleges where young people may be very inquisitive but less challenging and more susceptible to extremist reason/arguments," the document was quoted as saying.

The document added that recruiters are using Britain's role in the US-led Iraq war as a way to turn likely recruits toward terrorism, saying, "A particularly strong cause of disillusionment among Muslims is a perceived 'double standard' in the foreign policy of Western governments, in particular Britain and the US."

On Saturday, Britain's Sky TV reported that an Internet statement said al-Qaida is responsible for the deadly bomb attacksin London.

This is the second claim of responsibility after the Thursday attacks on three underground cars and a double-decker bus which left more than 50 people dead and 700 others injured in the British capital. The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.



 Xinhua news