Muslim police officers are being given extra protection and advice amid fears that they could become targets of kidnap terror gangs.

A review of London's officers was ordered after police and security forces foiled what they believe was a plot to abduct and behead a British Muslim soldier.

Read more...
• Police praise Muslim soldiers who acted as 'bait' for beheading gang
• Al Qaeda was behind 'plot' to behead soldier
• Mohammed cartoon protester guilty of stirring up race hatred
• 25 Muslims on alleged terror hit list
• Islamic leader hits out at 'police smear campaign'

But there are fears that other cells will have seen its impact on the public and may adopt similar tactics, which are common in Iraq.

It came as police guarded the house in Birmingham believed to have been chosen by the gang to hold and torture a soldier before filming his murder.

The front of the unremarkable three-bedroom, end of terrace home is littered with a sink, a pushchair and bits of carpet. It is in Aston, a rundown district of the city and is yards from a school.

Forensic teams searched the property after Wednesday's police raids in which nine men were arrested in connection with the alleged plot.

It is believed the house had been rented out to a number of asylum seeker families over the past few years until the last tenants moved out in September.

Since then it has been empty, apart from the "comings and goings of a few men" during the evenings.

Joseph Hall, 81, the owner of the house, who is not under suspicion by the police, said: "There has been no one in there for months but three weeks ago, all the windows were replaced with double glazed ones and the house was stripped bare."

A neighbour said: "It was obvious something dodgy was going on in that house. I have heard from my neighbours that this is where these terrorists were going to bring that soldier. It sends a chill down my spine."

Meanwhile, extraordinary details emerged of the police operation involving the two Muslim servicemen thought to be at the top of a 25-strong hit-list drawn up by the kidnap gang.

The soldiers are said to have allowed themselves to be used as "bait" while they were placed under unprecedented surveillance as officers waited for the terrorists to strike.

Their every move was monitored by MI5 agents. The two men wore tracking devices, with similar beacons attached to their cars, and armed response teams were on permanent standby to stage a rescue mission in case a kidnap plot was sprung. It is thought the soldiers may not even have been allowed to tell their families.

There were claims today that police have discovered videos of beheadings at some of the 12 addresses being searched by police in Birmingham.

A source described the amount of items recovered during the initial searches as "enormous".

MI5 and police were watching and listening in on the suspects for around six months before moving in to arrest them.

It is believed the action was taken after one of the suspects was seen buying a video camera.

None of the vast amounts of "wiretap" recorded conversation between the suspects - which most likely included the singling out of targets - is admissible in British courts.

Officers are now facing the task of combing through documents and emails at the properties they are searching. And defence chiefs are urgently checking that the hit-list of names and addresses for 25 soldiers discovered by police was not provided by a "mole".

The list includes soldiers' addresses as far apart as Glasgow and the West Country.

Detectives have been given more time to continue questioning the suspects. A judge at Coventry magistrates' Court yesterday granted police a further seven days to interview the men.

District judge Nicholas Evans was brought in from London to deal with this case. A source close to the case claimed none of the suspects had been interviewed by police yet.

Under new anti-terror laws, police can detain the suspects, British men of Pakistani descent, for a maximum of 28 days without charge.

However, during that time they have to apply for extensions - each time appearing before a judge to outline the evidence and questions they want to put to the men.

Tensions are rising in the predominantly Asian areas of Birmingham where the arrests and searches took place.

The head of Birmingham's 300,000-strong Muslim-community accused the authorities of an Islamic smear campaign.

Dr Mohammad Naseem said Britain's Muslims were now living in permanent fear of a knock on the door that could herald arrests for no reason. Muslims, he said, had become "easy fodder".

His comments coincided with a distinct ratcheting up of anger and frustration on the streets of Alum Rock where groups of up to 20 youths gathered by a police cordon, convinced the men had been set up.

"The only terrorists are at No 10 Downing Street and George Bush," said one youth, who refused to give his name. "This is all just ammunition for the BNP."

But Mohammed Latif, 55, a respected businessman with two restaurants on Alum Rock Road, welcomed the arrests.

"The police should reclaim this area for the business people," he said, "These kids have got nothing to do all day. They just drive around. They are not even working."

Prayers at mosques in the city will be accompanied by a special appeal for "calm and dignity".