LEADERS of Harrow's Somalian community have promised to work with police to root out extremism following the arrest of terrorist suspect Mukhtar Said-Ibrahim, formerly of Stanmore.

In a meeting with police and council bosses on Monday, they expressed their revulsion at the London bomb attacks and spoke of the need to turn disaffected Somalian youngsters into "good citizens".

Mohamed Mohammed, of the Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations, said: "I appeal to the mainstream community not to let this affect good relations in the community. The terrorists want to create division but be assured that we are 100% against the extremists and that we will all work together not to let this happen."

It is estimated that there are 5,000 Somalians in Harrow, most of whom arrived as refugees after the Somalian civil war in 1991/2. Although many are now naturalised British citizens, they remain a deprived economic group.

Adam Hassan, of the Refugee Link and Training Agency, said: "I have been living in Harrow for the past 14 years and Harrow has by far the largest Somalian community in the area. We are peaceful, want to participate fully and the community are solidly against the extremists. But the problem that needs to be resolved is the underachievement among our young people. If you go down to Wealdstone, outside the library, you will find many young Somalians congregating in that area with nothing to do. We must help them to become citizens and not to turn to petty crime or extremism. We have benefited from this country and we are proud of being here. We would like to put something back into society."

Language has proved a barrier to integration, with research suggesting that 25% of Somali men and 75% of women speak little or no English. Mr Mohammed said that it was important for Somali parents to communicate with schools and the community to keep in touch with the lives of their children.

Councillor Navin Shah, Leader of Harrow Council, said: "I condemn and this council condemns all the misguided people who have taken these actions recently. We are glad to be working with representatives of the Somalian community, and if there is any support that we can provide, we will do so."

Superintendent Richard Freeman, of Harrow Police, said that officers would continue to use "stop and search" powers but were briefed to show courtesy and not to target any particular racial group. He appealed to the public to co-operate and to stay calm if they saw armed officers. Race hate crime had not increased and was actually down from last year's figures, he added.