Police chiefs in Bradford have been put on bomb alert amid fears of a nationwide neo-Nazi campaign targeting Asian and black communities.

The city's community leaders were today seeking urgent meetings with police to discuss the threat and warning people to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.

The warning comes as Bradford was named as a future bombing target in a hate letter to an anti-racism activist.

The letter, claiming to be from the fascist group Combat 18 (C18), was handed to Scotland Yard by Suresh Grover, co-ordinator of the National Civil Rights Movement, founded in March in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.

The letter said: "We have bombed Brixton, next we will bomb Bradford, Slough, Tower Hamlets, Southall, Tottenham, Birmingham, Dublin.

"We will arrange a bombing and hate campaign in areas of England that have a high black, Asian, Jewish or Irish population."

Today Bradford Council's deputy leader, Councillor Mohammed Ajeeb, said: "I am hoping to hold a meeting with police today to convey our concern and ask them to tell us what they are going to do about it. I do not think the local community should panic but I would endorse what the police say, to be vigilant."

Police in Bradford admit that Combat 18 is active in West Yorkshire although officers stress the extremists are being monitored.

Inspector Martin Baines, Bradford community and race relations officer, said: "I don't want to say too much, but we do monitor the activities of Combat 18 in this area. We condemn racism in every form and we are working together to tackle it."

Scotland Yard is helping officers across the country to co-ordinate "defensive responses" against similar racist attacks.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "We liaise with other forces including Scotland Yard so if they have had a letter I am sure they will have brought it to our attention. We would ask everybody who either hears or sees anything suspicious, to contact police. "

Mohammed Amran, a racial equality commissioner, from Manningham, said he was concerned that prominent racial justice workers and centres such as the Bradford Racial Equality Council could become targets.

He said: "Brixton was hit last week, then Brick Lane on Saturday - what will happen next Saturday? There are extremists active in the Bradford area, and there is some support for their ideas - a British National Party candidate got 1,000 votes in Bradford West in the 1997 election.

"I don't have a lot of confidence in the police to tackle this because it came out during the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry that some people believed some officers held extreme right wing views."

"The police must now step up Continued on Page Four

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