FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw today slammed Taliban supporters as 'sick' after a march through Blackburn supporting Osama Bin Laden.

And Muslim community leaders today claimed the people who rallied behind local protester Tasaddiq Rehman were in the minority and backed the British government over the war in Afghanistan.

Police were today considering legal action after saying they had been assured the event would only be an anti-war march.

Officers ordered the members of the march to get rid of placards and banners which claimed George W Bush and Tony Blair were Christian terrorists before allowing the march to start from the Bangor Street Community Centre.

Around 100 people set off on the march but the group had dwindled to around 40 by the time it reached the town centre.

The march coincided with a march planned by the Blackburn with Darwen Stop the War Coalition, which immediately postponed its protest amid fears its cause would be confused with the extremist message.

The pro-Taliban march was policed into Blackburn town centre where speeches were made in front of the old Town Hall.

Today, Mr Straw, who visited Ground Zero in New York on Friday to see for himself the devastation caused by terrorists, said: "Those supporting the Taliban need to remember that the Taliban were compliant in the killing of more than 6,000 people, many of them Muslims.

"This march is pretty sick. It's certainly not helpful."

A spokesman for the Lancashire Council of Mosques said: "We know of this group but as far as I am aware there is little support for them around here."

March organiser Tasaddiq Rehman said the Global Truth organisation was made up of a small group of people who want to expel Western myths about American activities.

The Al-Muhajiroun group claims to be 'the eyes, the ears and the voice of Muslims.' It has led the condemnation of the Allied attacks on Afghanistan and has claimed hundreds of British Muslims have gone to the country to fight for the Taliban.

Mr Rehman has a history of arranging marches. He used to run the Islamic Jihad of Europe group from his home in the Brookhouse area of Blackburn.

Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn said: "The organisers have no support in the mainstream Muslim community. Tasaddiq has 10 or 15 young supporters."

George Davis, a member of the Blackburn with Darwen Stop The War Coalition, which organised a similar cross-faith rally two weeks ago, said: "We do not wish to associate ourselves with extremist groups."