According to an article by Times online as many as 150 Islamic radicals have travelled from Britain to Iraq to join up with a “British brigade” that has been established by Al-Qaeda leaders to fight coalition forces.

"Senior security sources say leaders of the Iraqi insurgency have set up a “foreign legion” composed entirely of westerners to fight alongside the insurgents in the war against British and American forces. Some are preparing to carry out suicide attacks while others have received basic combat training for attacks on western troops The so-called “British brigade” is said to be operating under the direct command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Members of the unit are thought to be in the Sunni triangle, a combat zone and Al-Qaeda hotbed west of Baghdad".

These claims surfaced after raids in Manchester, London and Merseyside 10 days ago when anti-terrorist police arrested eight men suspected of involvement in recruiting radicals for the jihad.

"Police said publicly that the men were being held on suspicion of encouraging and financing Al-Qaeda’s terrorist operations abroad. But privately Whitehall officials said they believed that there may have been links to the training and recruitment of volunteers for suicide missions in Iraq".

Jihadist websites about the British recruits who have joined this “foreign legion” have increased fears. One video, with English subtitles, issued last month, shows scenes of excited young recruits in Iraq. The message is “They are fighting; you should be too”.

Surveys by the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimate that one in 10 of the 20,000 insurgents in Iraq are foreign-born.

To date there have only been two terrorist attacks in Iraq with confirmed involvment of individuals with links to the UK.

Wail al-Dhaleai, a Yemeni asylum seeker based in Sheffield, died when he drove a car filled with explosives into a US army patrol in November 2003.

In 2005 Idris Bazis, 41, a French-Algerian who lived in Manchester, blew himself up in a suicide attack on American troops.

An investigation by Greater Manchester police reportedly "uncovered an extensive network for would-be “holy warriors” in Britain". Common methods included flying out "to Pakistan while others went to Middle Eastern countries, such as Syria, before being smuggled over the border".

But Alternative commentator Kurt Nimmo on a recent post at Another Day in the Empire suggests these claims are exagerrated, betraying a trend for alarmist media coverage relating to the "War on Terror"

"If we are to believe the Times Online, British “Islamic radicals” are so worked up over the occupation of Iraq they have joined “al-Qaeda” and have “travelled from Britain to Iraq to join up with a ‘British brigade’ According to the story, the “British brigade” is run by none other than Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most ambitious and feared dead terrorist on earth.

Obviously, the Brits and Americans—and now Canada, under the leadership of the neocon PM Stephen Harper, where a terrorist plot was recently “foiled” in Ontario—are ramping up fake and false flag terrorism as the next phase of the neocon “clash of civilizations” agenda moves forward".