The first purpose-built mosque is to be built in Reading following an agreement between Muslim leaders and the council.

The £4m needed to build the new mosque on the corner of Wokingham Road and Green Road will have to be raised by the local Muslim community.

"The new Green Road mosque will be available to all Reading's Muslims and will be a facility of which we can all be justly proud," said Mian Saleem.

When the new facility is built the Alexandra Road mosque will be shut.

Facilities at the new building will include a prayer house, washing facilities, smaller prayer houses, a library, conference room, class rooms for male and female students, a meeting centre for older people and parking for 115 vehicles.

David Sutton, leader of Reading Borough Council, said: "These have been complex negotiations between the community leaders from the Alexandra Road mosque, the South Street mosque and others pushing for the new mosque, and I'm pleased we've managed to reach a fair and sensible arrangement.

"The new mosque will be a glorious building, a very classical design with curved arches and a splendid silver dome in the centre.

"We feel comfortable with these plans because the new mosque would have a social, as well as religious, function.

"The people involved have also assured us they will have a very inclusive approach, including the provision of proper facilities for women."

'Patience and understanding'

The agreement is seen as a thawing of relationships between the council and the Muslim community in the town after a Muslim festival was blocked over security fears.

Reading Borough Council stopped the Islam Fair, due to take place on 10 September in Prospect Park in Reading, over "heightened security concerns and community tensions".

At the time Muslim leaders described the decision as "shocking, disturbing and upsetting".

But following the deal over the mosque Mr Saleem, chairman of Pakistani Community Centre, said: "I am particularly grateful to Reading Borough Council for making the land available and for their patience and understanding."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 4:33 pm 1 comments

Police seal off the area where suspected Muslim extremist exploded a bomb in the busy market of Tacurong city in the southern Philippines' Mindanao island, injuring four people. Also in Mindanao, twelve people were killed and dozens injured in a bomb blast, officials and police said.

Permanent Link posted by J @ 10:02 am 0 comments

Religous riots in Windsor, firebombed dairies, veil outrage and soldiers hounded out of their homes by gangs of, ahem, "youths". Just another day in paradise :

MUSLIM yobs who wrecked a house to stop four brave soldiers moving in after returning from Afghanistan sparked outrage last night.

The house in a village near riot-torn Windsor had BRICKS thrown through windows and was DAUBED with messages of hate.

Four young Household Cavalry officers who had planned to rent it were also the target of phone THREATS.

They were yesterday forced to look elsewhere to live - after top brass warned them against inflaming racial violence near the Queen's Windsor Castle home.

Last night furious Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "This is a shocking development."

Colleagues of the officers branded the vandalism a "disgrace". A source at the regiment said:

"These guys have done nothing but bravely serve their country - yet they can't even live where they want in their own country." The £3,000-a-month detached home in picturesque Datchet, Berks, is less than a mile from Windsor Castle. It was attacked as extra police were drafted into Windsor - where battles have raged for days between Asian and white gangs.

On Wednesday a Muslim-run dairy was firebombed.

The young officers - from the same regiment as Prince Harry - had planned to use the four-bed house for rest and recuperation after months risking their lives on the frontline.

Louts struck two days after the four arrived in uniform in an Army Land Rover to view it.

The source said: "A gang of local Muslims set about keeping them away. They hurled bricks through the windows and then wrote offensive graffiti across the front of the house." The vile messages included one in 4ft letters on the drive - warning: "F*** off".

Sources inside Windsor's Combermere Barracks - where the officers are based - confirmed Muslims had made calls threatening the men.

The scandal comes as Tony Blair today pledges the Army in Afghanistan can have ANYTHING it needs to hammer the Taliban. Writing exclusively in The Sun he declares that Our Boys are "the best in the world".

A Household Cavalry insider said of the Muslims'insult to Britain’s heroes: "Everyone in the regiment is really upset. It's one thing coming under attack in Helmand in Afghanistan but quite another getting this abuse in England. The officers were determined to face down the yobs and still move in - but didn't want a race riot on their hands."

Police hunting the vandals confirmed: "One line of inquiry is that it is racially aggravated."

The house's owner Johanna Ledwidge refused to comment beyond saying she was very upset. A shocked neighbour in the quiet street said: "We pride ourselves in this neighbourhood that we welcome all cultures."

Tory MP Philip Davies said of the attack: "This is outrageous.

"If there's anybody who should f*** off it's the Muslims who are doing this kind of thing. Police should pull out the stops to track down these vile thugs."

Sir Andrew Green, director of the think-tank Migrationwatch UK, said: "Incidents like this are absolutely inexcusable and seriously undermine efforts by all sides to achieve integration. Those who choose to live in this country owe a loyalty to Britain."

A spokesman for letting agency Kings, who are marketing the property, said: "It was an isolated case of vandalism. We do not know the reasons behind it."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:01 pm 2 comments