Hundreds of guides telling town hall officials and police how to talk about terrorism without causing offence to Muslims have been distributed in the past few weeks.

The guide, written by Home Office civil servants, suggest that instead of talking about Muslim or Islamic extremism, officials should instead say “violent extremism”.

The guide also says that “Islamophobia” should be simply termed “discrimination”, while those purporting to carry out jihad and attacks in the name of Islam should be called simply criminals, murderers or thugs.

It is far removed from Tony Blair’s rhetoric after September 11, 2001, when he spoke of Armageddon and the justification for war. Now civil servants are advising that careful language is a vital tool in the war on terrorism.

There are fears that a growing number of Britons are tempted to attack UK targets because of resentment over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Coherent and effective cross-government communications are important in relation to countering terrorism,” a Home Office spokesman said last night. “Language is part of this work to engage effectively with communities who need consistent, clear and appropriate communications. If your messages are ambiguous or untargeted they will not reach or be understood by those we wish to hear them and we risk having a negative effect on our audience.” According to the Home Office research unit, referring to “the West” and “the Muslim community” is frowned upon. Instead, officials should “highlight diversity, rather than reinforcing the concept of a homogenous Muslim world”. It continues: “Use geographical identifiers of Muslim communities.”

The research unit that wrote the guide was established last year to combat al-Qaeda propaganda. The Home Office said the guide was “not about political correctness” but about ensuring that officials were not misunderstood.

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