It is the city described as "terrorist central" - a mecca for extremists preaching hatred for the West and advocating its annihilation.

But this is not Beirut, Kabul or Gaza Strip. It is LONDON.

Although the West has declared war on terrorists and vowed to hit hard any state which harbours them, politicians need look no further to find them than our capital.

This is in spite of tough new laws imposed to curb their activities.

At least nine governments have asked Britain to extradite terrorists who they complain are operating freely here - including Afghanistan.

The Government brought in a new Terrorism Act last year banning 21 organisations and making it illegal for others to collect money for terrorism overseas or to conspire to commit terrorism. But their supporters are still here.

MI5 and Special Branch have had known Muslim fanatics in Britain under surveillance for years.

Their operations were stepped up after last week's atrocity and now involve 24-hour surveillance.

MI5 is desperate to find any "sleepers" - fanatics recruited maybe years before they carry out attacks - operating on behalf of extremists.

These pictures show the confused thinking of fanatics brainwashed into believing America is evil.

One, taken yesterday, top, has a Pakistani protesting outside his country's embassy in London over his President's support for the US. He is wearing a baseball cap with a New York Yankees logo.

Another, above, shows Palestinians celebrating the Twin Towers atrocity in Lebanon last week - one in an LA Lakers cap and another wearing an American football shirt.

This third picture, from last year, captures members of anti-US terror group Hamas in Israel wearing the white robes of volunteer suicide bombers. And one is carrying a Nike rucksack.Already this year 16 men with alleged links to Osama bin Laden have been arrested here. They include Khalid al-Fawwaz alleged to have bought the phone used to organise the bombing of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He is in Belmarsh jail, South London, awaiting extradition to the US.

Paul Wilkinson, director of the Centre For The Study Of Terrorism And Political Violence at St Andrew's University, said: "London has been a base for groups exploiting the freedoms of this country."

Here we name the 21 groups suspected of plotting violence from within Britain - and it DOESN'T include the IRA or 13 other groups active in Northern Ireland.

AL-QAEDA: Led by Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the US attacks, who aims to drive Western forces out of Saudi Arabia, destroy Israel and end Western influence in the Muslim world.

EGYPTIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD: Aims to replace the Cairo government with an Islamic state. Two members are in UK custody pending a US extradition request over bombings.

AL-GAMA'AT AL-ISLAMIYA: Also wants to create an Egyptian Islamic state. It killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor in November 1997. Egypt has demanded the extradition from Britain of Yassir Serri, who it blames for the outrage.

ARMED ISLAMIC GROUP (GIA): Aims to create Islamic state in Algeria. Its UK members raise funds and buy chemicals for explosives. One jailed here - Rachid Ramda - is wanted in France for the 1995 explosion at Paris's St-Michel metro station which killed eight.

SALAFIST GROUP FOR CALL AND COMBAT: GIA rival which also wants an Islamic state in Algeria. In February, six Algerians were arrested in London after the discovery of plans to bomb in Europe.

BABBAR KHALSA: Sikh group which wants an independent Khalistan within India's Punjab. Has had members in UK since the Eighties who are thought to have travelled to India to take part in terrorism.

INTERNATIONAL SIKH YOUTH FEDERATION: Also aims to create an independent Sikh state of Khalistan. Last year two members, Mukhtiar Singh, 27, and Paramjit Singh, 26, successfully fought extradition in the Court of Appeal after they were arrested for plotting to smuggle explosives from Pakistan to India and planning terrorist attacks.

A judge blocked their deportation saying the pair were at risk of torture if they were handed back to India. British security services found evidence that the pair, who arrived in Britain illegally, were using their base here to continue to plot terror activities abroad.

HARAKAT MUJAHIDEEN: Seeks an Indian-run Kashmir and urges worldwide attacks on US interests.

JAISH E MOHAMMED: Supporters seek the liberation of Kashmir from India and destruction of America.

LASHKAR E TAYYABA: Aims to make Kashmir an independent Islamic state. Represented here by its political wing, Markaz Dawa al Irshad.

LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM: London is the international HQ of the Tamil Tigers guerilla group fighting for a Tamil homeland in north and east Sri Lanka. The UK Secretariat deals with fundraising and issuing press releases. Sri Lanka has frequently asked Britain to ban the Tigers, who regularly attack civilian targets.

HEZBOLLAH EXTERNAL SECURITY ORGANISATION: Lebanese-based group which wants armed resistance to Israel and liberation of Palestinian territories and Jerusalem.

HAMAS-IZZ AL-DIN AL QASSEM BRIGADES: Has vowed to end Israeli occupation of Palestine and create an Islamic Palestinian state.

PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD-SHAQAQI: Shia Muslim group committed to ending Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and creating an Islamic state similar to Iran. In 1997 an Israeli security chief flew to London to investigate claims suicide bombings in Jerusalem were planned in Britain.

ABU NIDAL ORGANISATION: Intent on destruction of Israel. Two members serving jail terms in the UK.

MUJAHEDDIN E KHALQ: Dissident Iranian group based in Iraq. Circulates its publication Mojahed in the UK.

KURDISTAN WORKERS' PARTY (PKK): Aims to create an independent Kurdish state in south east Turkey. Turkey has demanded and failed to extradite political and religious extremists in London.

REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLES' LIBERATION PARTY (DHKP): Extreme left wing group bent on creating a Marxist regime in Turkey. Has fundraising activities in Britain. An embassy spokesman said Kurdish extremists, though banned in Britain, still extort money in London.

ETA (BASQUE HOMELAND AND LIBERTY): Wants independent state for Basque areas of France and Spain Has links with Irish terror groups.

17 NOVEMBER REVOLUTIONARY ORGANISATION: Greek terror group fighting imperialism. In June 2000 it killed the British Military Attache in Athens, Stephen Saunders.

ISLAMIC ARMY OF ADEN: Committed to overthrowing the Yemeni government and replacing it with an Islamic state.

Sheiks who stir up trouble

Outrage ... Omar Mohammed MUSLIM extremists based in Britain but with no terrorist links are to be watched around the clock.

Several have used the freedom of speech they enjoy here to make inflammatory remarks about the West since the New York atrocity.

One of the two most prominent groups is AL-MUHJIROUN whose leader, Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, caused outrage on BBC radio yesterday by urging Pakistanis in Britain to help assassinate their President Musharraf.

He boasts that his shady organisation has thousands of members living here.

Mohammed and his supporters run a website from an industrial estate in Tottenham, North London, spouting anti-Western propaganda and offering self defence and weapons training for young Muslims.

The Syrian-born father-of-six has lived in Britain since 1986 when he was deported from Saudi Arabia for calling for a holy war there.

The other prominent extremist group, THE SUPPORTERS OF SHARIA, is run by Sheik Abu Hamza al Masri, who lost an eye and both arms fighting Russian forces with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

The cleric from the Finsbury Park mosque in North London is wanted by the Yemeni government which accuses him of masterminding a plot to bomb British targets in Aden in 1998.

Security sources in Yemen say he sent his son, stepson and others to training camps run by Aden's Islamic Army.

His recruits confessed in a Yemeni court to giving £2,000 to local terrorist group Abu Hassan to pay for weapons and training.

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