ABDEL Boutarfas, chairman of the Moroccan Community Association in Trowbridge, has condemned the shootings and says he hopes his religion will not be tarnished by it.

Mr Boutarfas said: “It is terrible and it is very sad for the families involved.

“Acts like these reflect badly on Muslims," he said.

"It takes one person or one group to ruin and tarnish the religion for everyone else.

"Muslims are not interested in violence and it is incidents like these that can turn the image of Islam on its head."

“I definitely condemn the action and I am appalled and angered by the act and how it has reflected on our religion.”

He believes said that he hopes this was an isolated incident and added that while the media focuses on religion there are other factors at play.

“There is a lot more to the equation. There is the idea of youth unemployment with many people being influenced by ideologies, so there are a lot of factors involved,” Mr Boutarfas added.

The Muslim Council of Britain is urging British Muslims to make their voices heard to pray for peace, and speak out against terrorism, and has called on mosques and imams to deliver a sermon of peace at Friday prayers, to remind people "that these killers do not respect the sanctity of life as laid down in Islam".