U.K. Cops Try to Calm Fears Over Raid

Police forensic officers arrive at a cordoned off grocery store in Birmingham, England Wednesday Jan. 31, 2007 following dawn raids when British counter-terrorism police arrested eight men in an alleged kidnapping plot. The men planned to behead a British Muslim soldier and broadcast the act on the Internet, Sky News reported. Police would not comment on the broadcast report of a beheading plan, but counterterrorism officials _ speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation _ said the kidnapping plot was the first of its kind to be uncovered in Britain. (AP Photo/ Simon Dawson) (Simon Dawson - AP)

BIRMINGHAM, England -- Police attempted on Thursday to allay Muslim anxieties after a raid in this city in which nine men were arrested on terrorism charges.

The British media have reported the men were plotting to kidnap a British Muslim soldier, torture and behead him, and broadcast the imagery on the Internet _ but this has not been confirmed by police.

Some Muslims questioned if the arrests were another mistaken high-profile operation, like last year's raid in east London during which police shot and wounded one of two Muslim brothers who were later released for lack of evidence linking them to terrorism.

One of the men arrested helped work on the campaign to free Norman Kember, a British hostage kidnapped in Iraq in 2005 and held for 118 days, according to former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazamm Begg, who drafted letters and appeared on television pleading for Kember's release.

Kember was part of a Canada-based group, Christian Peacemaker Teams. The kidnappers shot dead an American member, Tom Fox.

"One of the men arrested actually helped draft my statement to release Kember," Begg told The Associated Press. "There is an enormous amount of skepticism over these arrests, and I think one of the problems is that there is still a huge intelligence gap."

The nine suspects, believed to be British men of Pakistani descent, were arrested in homes and businesses in several Birmingham neighborhoods, which were mostly Pakistani.

"This area is now referred to as a hotbed of radical Islam, and it is difficult to undo the feelings that have been aroused in the last 24 hours," Salma Yaqoob, a member of the Birmingham City Council representing the anti-war Respect Party, said in an interview Thursday.

"It will take a long time to rebuild the trust and confidence after people feel they have been demonized," said Yaqoob, a Briton of Pakistani descent.

Across Britain, Muslims have expressed concern that they are being unfairly targeted by anti-terrorism legislation following similar anti-terror raids in the past that have not led to suspects being charged or convicted.

On Thursday, police won court permission to question the nine suspects arrested in the Birmingham raid for another seven days.

British media said the alleged kidnap plot _ intended to mirror the brutal killings of foreign hostages in Iraq _ was in its final stages and was uncovered during a six-month surveillance operation by anti-terror officers in Manchester.