Donald Trump claims British Muslims are 'absolutely not reporting' suspected terrorists

Donald Trump has claimed British Muslims are “absolutely not reporting” suspected terrorists.

The Republican frontrunner was interviewed by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain and was asked what he would say to British Muslims, given the inflammatory claims he has made about the religion during his presidential campaign as well as his controversial pledge to ban Muslims from he US.

“I'm just saying there is something with a radicalised portion that is very bad and very dangerous [...] I would say this to the Muslims and in the United States also when they see trouble they have to report it,“ he said. ”They are not reporting it. They are absolutely not reporting it and that is a big problem.“

Trump's remarks echo claims he made yesterday, following the attacks in Brussels, where he said “we're having a problem with Muslims” and also called for mosques to be surveilled by authorities.

Trump's quotes were challenged by the Muslim Council of Britain who told GMB they were “just not the case”. Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary-general of the organisation said: “If you look at London we have a much more integrated society here. We have over 90 per cent of British Muslims who would report someone. If anything were to happen if they knew of anything that was happening in the UK they would report it. There is a very strong Muslim community in the UK.” He also said extremists who have perpetrated past attacks don't share the “typical views of a traditional Muslim in society”.

“Many of the places these people were being harboured were seen as criminal areas in general. How much is this due to being a Muslim community or just a community of criminality. We have to try to not conflate the two together.”

The Brussels attacks which took place on Tuesday morning in a city airport and metro station have killed at least 31 people and injured at least 198. The country is currently in its second day of mourning.

Isis have claimed responsibility for the attacks. Speaking about the terrorist group, Trump pledged that should he become US President he would “hit Isis so hard you wouldn't believe it and I would get the people over there to put up their soldiers because it's about time that somebody did it“.

Elsewhere in the interview Trump also defended his controversial pledge for a temporary ban for all Muslims attempting to enter the US but maintained he is not “anti-Muslim”. “I'm not anti-anything, I'm just common sense,” he claimed.

He also re-iterated his belief that Syrian refugees fleeing war should not be allowed into the US. “The Syrians, I don't want them coming in. I don't mind helping to build a safe zone in Syria, but we can't take people in who are undocumented.”

More than half a million people in the UK signed a 'Ban Donald Trump' petition after he demanded a block on Muslims entering the US and claimed parts of London were “so radicalised” police were “afraid for their own lives”, which also saw an extraordinary intervention from the Metropolitan Police, Boris Johnson and David Cameron who all disputed the claims.

Despite situations like the petition, which actually crashed the government website at one point given the sheer amount of people signing it, Trump said people shouldn't fear him becoming President as he's just a “normal person”.