The co-chair of a Muslim-Jewish dialogue group said he was "pleasantly surprised" by a poll of UK Muslims, which found that 27 per cent sympathised with the motives of the Charlie Hebdo killers and 11 per cent believed that publishers deserved to be attacked for depicting images of Mohammed.
The survey of 1,000 UK Muslims also found that eight per cent of respondents knew people who strongly supported the politics of al-Qaeda or Islamic State.
But 95 per cent said they felt loyal to Britain and 93 per cent said British laws should be obeyed, according to the poll carried out by ComRes for BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mohammed Amin, the co-chair of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester, said: "I was pleasantly surprised. On almost any issue there are a small percentage of responses that are unlikeable. In every community you find nutcases."
Mr Amin questioned the reliability of the 27 per cent figure. "It doesn't mean they all support killings. They might understand the motives, why [the attackers] were angry" , he said.
But he added that he was shocked and disturbed that 11 per cent of respondents supported "illegal activity and murder – that's worrying".