British agents go online to fight terror

LONDON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- British security agencies have taken the fight against terror online, running their own Web sites and as well as helping moderate Muslim groups.

The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism was created to coordinate operations targeting al-Qaida, The Independent said. The agency also tries to counter terrorist sites on the Web.

Agents are especially worried about self-made terrorists, many of them converts to Islam, who plan actions with homemade explosives. Because they do not have connections to known terrorist groups, they can be hard to locate.

One young man, who recently became the youngest person convicted in Britain on terrorist charges, first began getting information on bomb-making online when he was 15. The judge who sentenced him said Hamaad Munshi had been exposed to "warped and pernicious" ideas.