AS Junade Feroze today began a 22-year sentence for a plot to kill thousands in 9/11-style terror attacks, Blackburn community leaders insisted that the town was not a haven for terrorists.

And they spoke of their shock at how a "nice boy" from a respectable family could have been involved in such an act of terrorism.

They condemned the seven plotters in Feroze's al Qaeda-linked terror cell as "anti-Islamic".

In total, the seven have been jailed for 136 years.

Feroze, 31, who lived in Malham Gardens, Audley, had admitted conspiracy to cause an explosion with Dhiren Barot, said to be Britain's al Qaeda general, who is serving a life sentencing for plotting mass murder.

Woolwich Crown Court had been told that Barot's terror cell was drawing up plans to strike at America and the UK with synchronised explosions at iconic buildings.

In the US, they targeted the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building, and the Prudential building in Newark.

One of the methods discussed included using hijacked petrol tankers or passenger jets.

In London, targets were hotels: The London Marriott, the Churchill Intercontinental and the Berkeley.

The cell was planning to pack limousines with gas cylinders and explosives and detonate them in car parks underneath buildings.

Feroze, a car dealer whose family ran Lower Audley Tyre Centre, at the junction of Copperfield Street and Bennington Street, Blackburn, was arrested at gunpoint by anti-terror police in Preston Old Road, Cherry Tree, in August 2004.

Feroze is the second man with Blackburn links to be jailed for terrorism offences.

Saajid Badat, from Gloucester, but who studied at the College of Islamic Knowledge and Guidance, in Moss Street, Little Harwood, was jailed for 13 years in April 2005 for conspiring to blow up a plane.

But Feroze is the first Blackburn born and bred person to have been jailed for terrorism.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he knew Feroze's father who was worried about his son.

He said: "It's horrific for his family but it would have been much, much worse if his crimes had been carried out.

"This is nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.

"I knew his father and he was an extremely nice gentleman. He was worried about Junade because he seemed over interested about certain aspects and had concerns about him.

"He didn't know at that stage about his extremist views. As any parent does you always worry about your children and hope that it will just come out in the wash. Clearly Junade decided to take the wrong path."

Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn said he knew the family very well.

"When his father was alive he was extremely hard working but he must have come under the influence of these people who have taken advantage of his lack of knowledge about his faith," he said.

"These people are anti-islamic. They don't have sufficient knowledge of their religion. No religion advocates taking innocent human life, not even in holy war.

"I still can't believe that such a nice boy could be involved in this. They have all been exploited and made a slave of their own emotions. "

Hamid Qureshi, chair of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said Blackburn was not a "haven for terrorists".

He said: "On the whole Blackburn is a very good peaceful town. It's a problem not just connected to Blackburn. It's all over the country.

"The government is involved in wrongful activity and that is having an affect on young people's minds.

"I am not trying to put any justification on this because what these people have been plotting to do is extremely distressing and it has made me very sad.

"There is no way you can tell who will be a terrorist but we need to make sure we give our young people purpose for their life in a different way from terrorism and give them different avenues to express their frustrations such as through debate."

Ibrahim Master, former chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, also said the area was not a "breeding ground" for terrorists.

He said both Feroze and Badat had been influenced by outsiders who were to blame.

Mr Master said: "I am surprised such activity has taken place in Lancashire but at the same time we are grateful to the police for bringing such people to justice.

"The Muslim community will always get the backlash and it is in our interests to make sure such things do not happen.

"His dad would be totally disappointed because he believed strongly in community relations and advocated that all human beings are brothers to each other."

Other members of the cell were Abdul Aziz Jalil, 34, from Luton, Bedfordshire, jailed for 26 years, and Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 27, from Harrow, north London and Nadeem Tarmohamed, 29, from Willesden, north west London, who were sentenced to 20 years each.

Zia Ul Haq, 28, from Paddington, west London, was given 18 years and Omar Abdur Rehman, 23, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, and Qaisar Shaffi, 28, from Willesden, north west London, 15 years each.

Shaffi was convicted of conspiracy to murder after a month-long trial which ended this week.

The other six pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.