THE Muslim community has condemned the barbaric behaviour of the Islamic State and vowed to do all it can to prevent further Wycombe residents from travelling abroad for terrorist activities.

Leaders of the town’s Muslim community released an unequivocally strong statement denouncing ISIS and the threats made by Wycombe militant Omar Hussain in an interview with Newsnight.

The revelations shook the town’s Muslim community to its core.

Cllr Chaudhry Shafique, chairman of the Council of Christian Muslim Relations, said: "Their actions cause harm and damage to the good relationships we have built up over many years.

"We work hard to retain a strong bond with other communities in the town and we are working closely with the police.

"We have received the complete understanding from other faith groups which recognise this is a tiny number of people that get involved in hatred.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the community. We are proud British Muslims and proud to be part of this community, and we detest this distorted brand of Islam."

Mohammed Khaliel, director of Islamix, reiterated the community’s condemnation of extremism and said it has strained relations.

He said: "We work to improve relations in the town but our work load has got a lot harder as feelings are very strong at the moment.

"People are angry but they need to understand that Muslims are victims in this too."

Mosques and Islamic centres have stepped up their campaign to prevent others from being sucked in by ISIS’ ‘warped ideology’.

The CCMR will be holding workshops and the Islamic Mission and Mosque Trust will be re-enforcing the peaceful message of Islam during its prayers and educational centres for youngsters.

Trust chairman Zafar Iqbal said: "The young people, in particular, are shocked how someone like Omar Hussain could get into this situation and we are working hard on how we can stop this from happening.

"We are taking this issue seriously and we will be educating our young people and we will try to keep them on the right path.

"We are working hard as one community - we are shocked that someone from Wycombe got this ideology and gone that far."

Click here to read the joint statement.