Eight men were detained in early morning raids under anti-terror laws in Birmingham.

Security officials said the men were plotting to kidnap a Muslim community leader, who would have been filmed, and forced to plead for his life before being executed.

Describing the plot as an "Iraq-style kidnapping," security officials said that it marked a new approach to terrorism.

"I think it would be somebody significant inside the Muslim community," a security source told AFP.

"It was going to be a beheading and this was going to be posted on the Internet via a homemade video,

"In other words, it's a Ken Bigley look-alike", he said, referring to the British hostage who was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq in 2003.

Bigley's video-taped execution was posted on the Internet in 2004.

The security official said he believed the kidnapping "was imminent."

Meanwhile, Sky News reported that a young, male victim has already been identified, adding that police moved in to make arrests because the alleged abduction was only a matter of days away.

News reports suggested that the target was a young Muslim soldier in the British army who had served in Afghanistan.

West Midlands Police, who led Wednesday's raids, refused to confirm whether the target had been identified, made aware of the threat and placed under protective custody.