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A group of students is being investigated by police after they handed out leaflets apparently encouraging British Muslims to join the Islamic State.

The leaflets were handed out on Oxford Street in London's West End by former students of Omar Bakri, a banned cleric, an hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

Metropolitan Police today confirmed that they were reviewing the leaflets, which called Muslims to pledge allegiance to the 'khaleef', to see if any anti-terror laws had been broken.

The khaleef is a reference to the Islamic State's - formerly known as ISIS - self-appointed leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The group is currently behind a brutal campaign that has led to fears of a genocide of Christians in northern Iraq.

Shoppers reacted angrily to the group with one British Muslim claiming she had been racially abused when she challenged the group, according to the Evening Standard.

(Image: Twitter/Ghaffar Hussain)

Isis is not directly referenced in the leaflet, nor is al-Baghdadi, but it is believed to be a thinly veiled reference to both.

The leaflet, which was posted on Twitter, says: "After many attempts and great sacrifices from the Ummah of Islam throughout the world, the Muslims with the help of Allah have announced the re-establishment of the Khaliafah and appointed an Imam as a Khaleef (Muslim leader)."

Ghaffar Hussain, managing director at the Quilliam Foundation said the people handing out the leaflets were associated with the al-Muhajiroun extremist network and they were from Luton.

He told Newsweek: "This is a very disturbing development but one that should not come as a surprise since we are aware that around 500 British nationals have joined up with Isis already.

"We need to have a zero tolerance policy towards Isis supporters and recruiters in the UK."

Choudary confirmed to The Evening Standard that the group were his and Bakri's former students.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "The Metropolitan Police Service has been made aware of leaflets which reports state were distributed in the Oxford Street area.

“We are assessing the content of the leaflets to establish whether any criminal offences have been committed.”