TONY BLAIR has backed the police operation to find a suspected chemical device, despite a growing clamour from Muslim leaders for Scotland Yard and MI5 to say if they have made a mistake.

Police were expected today to ask a magistrate for more time to question two brothers arrested at their family’s East London home, while Muslim groups gave warning that the raid had led to anger and frustration in the community.

On the No 10 website yesterday, the Prime Minister said that he supported the police and the security service “101 per cent”.

“I think if they have a reasonable piece of intelligence and they believe they have got to investigate — take action on — they should,” he said. “You can only imagine if they fail to take action and something terrible happened what the outcry would be then.”

Mr Blair said that he knew the senior officers in the Yard and MI5 heading the operation and added: “They are absolutely top-rate and should be given support for carrying on with the job.

“I think we should be very, very wary of drawing conclusions. Let’s just wait and see. There may be a whole series of things they need to look into in relation to that.”

He gave warning that the heightened terrorist threat would mean more raids. “Part of the modern world, I’m afraid, is that you have to live with a greater degree of precaution on the part of our security services and our police,” he said.

Officers were still searching the brothers’ home in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, and could be there for another four days. Detectives admitted that no other addresses had been targeted.

Officers only started questioning Abul Kahar Kalam, 23, on Monday because of his condition after being shot in the shoulder during the raid on Friday night. He and his brother can be held for up to 14 days under existing anti-terror legislation.

Senior officers are refusing to concede that the operation was bungled, despite more claims that the intelligence from an informant was wrong. MI5 was convinced that the informant had persuasive evidence that a group of men in London were plotting to deploy a chemical device in the capital.

But lawyers for the brothers said that both were anxious to prove their innocence. In Forest Gate, Islamic militant groups have been urging young Muslims to join a demonstration on Friday to protest at the police tactics. Muslim leaders are appealing for calm, but concede that anger is rising in the community.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, the new leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “People want to know what exactly happened and about the intelligence — is it genuine information, is it flawed — these are the questions police have to answer as soon as possible.”

He added: “Trust could break down if things are not clarified. Angry people can do anything, angry people can even feel that they should take the law into their own hands, so anger has to be directed into positive action.”

Iqbal Ahmed, 21, who lives two streets from the family, said: “This is the second time terrorist police have shot someone by mistake. You are meant to be able to trust them, but it could be me next.”

Soms Shahim, 43, who works in a grocery store a few hundred yards away from the shooting, said: “They can’t blame bad intelligence after ruining someone’s family and shooting someone. They have been looking at the house for days before the raid and still got it wrong. They didn’t do their job right.”

Jahangir Barlas, 26, a supervisor at a mobile telephone shop in Forest Gate, said: “What happened to that boy can happen to anyone. It is scary.”

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