British Muslims Divided Over Response To IS

Although Muslims in the UK have been vocal in condemning the Tunisia terror attack, opinion is split on the best way to deal with Islamic State – and stop young people from becoming radicalised.

Speaking to Sky News, Khalid Mahmood MP said "there is always a pack behind lone wolf attackers", and called for a broader coalition of Muslim and Western troops to work together in eradicating IS.

But this viewpoint is not shared by Mohammed Khaliel, whose advocacy group works to create a deeper understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

He told Sky's Adam Boulton that British Muslims felt "embattled", and that such intervention would lead to an increase in domestic terrorism, as it causes higher levels of radicalisation.

"You need to look at other alternatives. We want peace on our streets, but we’ve found violence breeds violence. Bombing doesn't solve the problem," he added.

When asked what more could be done by the Muslim community, Mr Khaliel replied: "What more can we do? We as Muslims are now spying on our children – (wondering) are they going to be radicalised, which mosque they are going to."

The differing perspectives on how best to deal with the threat of terrorism are also seen in the Government, with David Cameron having an "honest disagreement" with Baroness Warsi, a former Conservative minister.

She has claimed the Prime Minister has "lost sections of the Muslim community" by appealing for them not to "quietly condone" terrorist groups.

Mr Cameron explained: "My point is that we should engage with imams, with Muslim communities, with Muslim organisations, but we should have some basic rules in terms of our engagement.

"We should be engaging with organisations that want to build an integrated, democratic, successful, multi-racial Britain. That's what I believe in and that's what most Muslims believe in, the vast majority."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has also warned that it is "extraordinarily difficult" to predict when and where terror attacks of this nature will happen.

"Our agencies have been very frank about this over a long period of time now - they cannot guarantee that we will be safe from this kind of self-radicalising, lone-wolf attack," he said.

"It is the most difficult type of attack to detect and predict and therefore the most difficult kind to protect against."

Security officials have claimed the gunman in the Tunisia attack, Seifeddine Rezgui, may have been radicalised by extremist preachers at a local mosque.

A university student, Rezgui had never travelled abroad, but he may have been drawn to the extremism of Islamic State around six months ago.