UK: Extremists now woo women to plot terror

Amid a growing worldwide clampdown on terror, the terrorists in the United Kingdom are now coming up with out-of-the-box ploys to weave a spell of destruction.

A Telegraph report says the dreaded al-Qaeda is recruiting impressionable women to step up their terror base. The report says that more women are being trained by terrorists. 

The stunning disclosure came after a plan was made to root out extremism on university campuses in the UK.

In a document published on Tuesday, the paper says, ministers warned that higher education institutions face a "serious but not widespread" threat from radical groups, insisting there is "no single profile" of potential recruits.

"They are likely to be generally younger than 30 and male, although the number of women who support and participate in violent extremism is increasing," the document revealed.

The report said the assessment came after the conviction of Samina Malik, the "lyrical terrorist" who worked at a branch of WH Smith at Heathrow Airport. She wrote poems about martyrdom and the beheading of unbelievers and received a suspended jail term in 2007, the report said.

Though the document stressed that most Muslims in Britain rejected extremism, it warned said academics should be aware of the "recruitment and grooming process" used by extremist groups in universities.

The document says the extremists are taking control of Friday prayers, other prayer meetings or sermons and the use of charismatic radical speakers to trickle down their agendas. 

The report quoted Bill Rammell, the higher education minister, as saying that an open debate on controversial issues was the "most effective way" of tackling radical views among students.

Warnings apart, the new document, the newspaper report says, focuses on the importance of academic freedom.

A similar guidance in 2006 provoked anger among Muslim students, who were worried about being unfairly targeted.

The new document said that universities should consider "sharing information" on speakers "who are deemed inappropriate to speak on campus, or those who are involved in any form of extremist activity".