Terror advice tackles verbal gaffes

It aims to guide them on how to speak to Muslim communities about the threat of extremism without alienating them.

According to The Guardian newspaper, which has obtained a copy of the pamphlet, it advises against use of phrases like "jihadi fundamentalist" and "Islamist extremist" which might tend to suggest the authorities regard the whole Muslim community as responsible for the terror threat.

Instead, it suggests that words such as "violent extremism", "criminal murderers" and "thugs" should be used, to avoid any suggestion of an explicit link between Islam and terror.

The document warns that the use of concepts such as "the struggle for values" or "a battle of ideas" plays into the hands of those who wish to frame the issue in terms of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West. A more productive approach is to stress the idea of shared values, it suggests.

"This is not intended as a definitive list of what not to say but rather to highlight terms which risk being misunderstood and therefore prevent the effective reception of the message," states the document, part of a pack created by the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that the document had been distributed to "key delivery partners" including chief constables, local authorities and Government offices a few weeks ago.

She added: "The pack is the first of a series of communications intended to brief partners about recent work to develop the 'prevent' strand of the Government's counter-terrorism strategy and help them to identify further contributions they can make to this agenda.

"The 'prevent' strand relies on all sectors - public, private, voluntary and community - working with central Government in its aim of stopping people becoming or supporting violent extremists.

"Coherent and effective cross-Government communications are important in relation to countering terrorism. Language is part of this work."