Al-Qa'eda's terrorist network is deeply embedded in Holland's Muslim communities and is recruiting second-generation immigrants for future attacks against Britain, the United States and Israel, according to a report by the Dutch internal intelligence service AIVD.

It said dozens of footloose Moroccan youths were being drawn into Osama bin Laden's web through mosques, prisons and cafes.

"The recruitment of these youths shows that a violent strain of radical Islam is stealthily taking root in Dutch society," said the document. Most of the recruits were either born in Holland or arrived as children.

Sybrand van Hulst, the AIVD's director, said al-Qa'eda preyed on lost souls adrift in Holland's big cities. "They're brainwashed and indoctrinated," he said.

=== A recent report by the Belgian parliament's intelligence committee painted a similar picture of al-Qa'eda penetration of North African youths in Brussels and Antwerp. It concluded that at least 30 mosques were part of the radical network and posed "a grave and immediate threat" to the constitutional order and survival of Belgian democracy.

The Dutch authorities said young Moroccans are drawn into a sub-culture of "jihad videos and internet chatrooms that discuss holy war and Islamic martyrdom".

They take part in youth congresses and Islamic summer camps. Once recruited they are isolated and prepare a farewell testimony to their families. In the past they were sent to Afghanistan for paramilitary training but now learn the terrorist trade at secret camps in Europe.

Holland has 850,000 Muslims in a population of 16 million, but recruitment has mostly been confined to North African immigrants.