A special anti-terrorism co-ordinator is being recruited to prevent young people in Brighton and Hove becoming radicalised.

The city council is advertising the £44,000-a-year post for someone to “challenge terrorist ideology and support vulnerable people and support sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation”.

The Home Office has introduced the “Prevent” posts to seven new areas across the country where there is considered to be a special need – including Brighton and Hove and Crawley.

The Home Office could not confirm exactly why Brighton and Hove had been picked as a “supported area” in need of protection against radicalisation for security reasons.

Three Brighton teenagers – brothers Abdullah, 18, and Jaffar Deghayes, 17, and their friend Ibrahim Kamara, 19, who travelled to Syria to fight with jihadist groups were all killed last year.

Some residents and community leaders questioned the need for the position and whether terrorism should be a police or military matter.

Resident Laura King described the post as a “ridiculous job”.

She said: “Have we actually had any terrorism in Brighton since the 1984 Grand hotel bombing?

“In addition why are the council getting £44,000 per year plus benefits to pay for this post when they are trying to cut everything else that we have paid our council tax to receive – services that we actually want and need.

“Surely anti-terrorism is a police matter? Why would the council be involved?

“We have an army to deal with this sort of thing – also paid for through our taxes.”

Shaikh Mohamed Toulba, Imam of the Brighton Al-Quds Mosque and Muslim Community Centre said: “I think Brighton people are very open-minded.

“It’s not the kind of place that people get radicalised.

“In my opinion it’s not a city that is a training ground for people going to Syria.

“I think it is okay to have a person doing that job though just in case they are needed in the future, but I have never seen any real need for it.”

However the mother of one of the Brighton teenagers killed fighting with Jihadi groups in Syria welcomed the move and said she believed the city’s teenagers were still being radicalised by extremists.

The Home Office launched its counter terrorism strategy after 9/11.

Originally 30 areas were given funding for Prevent schemes. In the past three months seven more “supported” areas have been added including Crawley and Brighton and Hove.

Despite Crawley having a much smaller Muslim population than other places on the list – such as Coventry and Birmingham – the town fell into the terror spotlight when father-of-three Abdul Waheed Majeed, 41, became the first British suicide bomber to die in Syria last February.

In 2007 three Crawley men were convicted for their part in the fertiliser bomb plot.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The appointment of a Prevent Co-ordinator by the council is in response to a central government requirement and is being funded by the Home Office.

“There is a statutory duty (Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015) upon all local authorities to take action and to work in partnership to do all that they can to prevent people being drawn into radicalisation and to safeguard children, young people and adults.

“Like many authorities up and down the country, we have been working with a range of organisations and the community for some considerable time to protect people in the city.”

The Crawley position is currently being advertised with a salary of more than £40,000 on a 12-month contract.

We ask mums of jihadi teens: is this necessary for Brighton?

Yes

Khadijah Kamara’s son Ibrahim, 19, was killed in Syria last September. “If this can happen to my son then it can happen to anyone,” she said.

“I’m always saying we should try to do whatever we can. We should be bringing education and awareness wherever we can.

“I only wish that the first people this happened to had spoken out and talked about it.

“That’s why I won’t keep quiet.

“If there had been something like this before my son might have been saved.

“I’m going to do everything we can to stop this happening and to stop lots of other youngsters from going to Syria.

“If my son can get to Syria on a 15-year-old’s passport then it could happen to yours too.

“I will never under estimate the scale of the issue.

“I do think there are other children being radicalised in Brighton and Hove. It is happening everywhere, and not just through their friends.

“They are online and they meet these people and you don’t know who the people are behind it.

“I can only hope the authorities get to these people.

“Even when they go out to Syria, their friends are telling them how exciting it is.

“They think it’s exciting still and they don’t know what is really going on and they are going to get killed.

“If it can happen to my son then I would say everybody should be on alert.”

No

Inas Abulssayen’s sons Amer, Abdullah and Jaffar Deghayes, travelled to Syria at the start of last year. Abdullah, 18, was killed in April, Jaffar in October.

Amer, now 21, is still in Syria and their father Abubaker travelled to the Middle East to bring him home last month.

“My sons didn’t go to Syria because they had been radicalised in Brighton,” she said.

“They joined by You Tube.

“I don’t know if this sort of person would help prevent other families going through what we have.

“It all happened so suddenly.

“It’s a hard situation to protect people. Most of the victims who go out to Syria are teenagers.

“If they want to reach teenagers this isn’t the way to go about it.

“They (the jihadis) are specialist communicators, they get to them through YouTube.

“The mosque is just a place where a big group of them went to pray.

“Mostly I think the idea to go to Syria came from YouTube.

“Sometimes they would show me the films.

“They joined the jihad to try to protect those Muslims they saw suffering.

“Abdullah always said he wanted to protect people. He wanted to go to the area to save Muslims and he sacrificed himself to do that.

“They believed in this life and they did it because they wanted to help and support people in Syria.

“I don’t think that there was anything that could have been done in Brighton to stop them.”

“They were very strong about everything.

“They heard about martyrdom and wanted to help others.”