World Bulletin / News Desk

A senior adviser in the British Home Office (Interior Ministry) has warned that the issue of homegrown ISIL militants and the discovery of a child abuse ring of Asian men in the country is fuelling far-right extremism.

The adviser, who wished not to be named, works for a Home Office initiative to tackle far-right extremism called Prevent. Speaking to the BBC, he said the British government has underestimated the threat posed by the far-right.

"This is one of the most worrying periods in right-wing extremism, given the growth in right-wing groups and the recent news events which are making them more angry," he explained.

Noting that many have been angered by the recent beheading of journalists in Iraq, supposedly by an ISIL fighter with a British accent, he said far-right groups are recruiting more members with five new groups comprising over 100 members having been formed in the past year.

One of these groups, he said, would like to implement death camps in the UK for everyone not seen as "white British".

Think-tank Tell Mama UK noted an increase of Islamophobic attacks in the UK, with 219 incidents in August alone, compared to 112 incidents in January. Of the incidents recorded in August, 58 were directly and openly related to the child abuse scandal in Rotherham.