A MUSLIM leader has broken his silence over the hammer attack on 15-year-old Ridgeway School pupil Henry Webster.

Azim Khan, spokesman for the Thamesdown Islamic Association, felt compelled to speak out after seeing the BNP's attempts to make political capital from the incident.

He says he was surprised to hear of the violent assault, allegedly carried out by a group of Asian men and boys.

Mr Khan said: "I have to speak now. Our sympathy is with Henry Webster. He is the victim and we are on the victim's side.

"Our sympathies are with him and we want to pass our sympathies to his mother Liz as she has been through a lot of suffering. We want a quick recovery for Henry.

"There is no them and us. This is not about white supremacists and extreme Muslims.

"I think that we are one nation and one family. Any tragedy is everybody's tragedy."

The far right BNP has said it is considering patrolling Wroughton and manning the school gates, even if it is not welcomed by the school.

The organisation claims to have delivered more than 1,000 leaflets to residents in the village.

Mr Khan said: "No political party should create propaganda from it. No party should take advantage like that and nobody should hijack the tragedy.

"A few Muslim children are involved and we are more hurt than anybody."

Mr Khan and other religious leaders have met the police to try to ensure nothing like this happens again.

"I want to calm things down. Anything we can do to help we will do it," he said.

"There's no question of black or white, religion or race or creed. It doesn't matter what beliefs you have, we have to live as one family.

"We want to make sure things like this don't happen again. As a Muslim I condemn any violence and support the victim. If we can be any help we will.

"We will work to bring harmony to the community. Our message to the public is we are one family.

"We would never give any chance to any extremism, it doesn't matter what nature. We will never, ever support them.

"Our support is with the school, the community and Henry and his family.

"We want a harmonious society. I was surprised when I saw what happened on that day. Swindon is a nice place to live and we want to keep it that way."

The Bangladeshi Association of Swindon has also condemned the attack.

A statement to the Advertiser said: "Under police advice the Banglad-eshi Association has held back its utter condemnation of the Ridgeway school attack.

"We send our heartfelt apologies to Henry Webster, his family and anyone else affected by the attack.

"We utterly condemn any form of violence irrespective of community, race, colour or religion.

"We support the police action. We will work tirelessly with all agencies to prevent any repeat of this savage act.

"We have already taken community action and are determined the Bangladeshi community will lead the way for social cohesion."