Army fails to attract Muslims in £90m diversity recuitment drive

The Army is facing a recruitment diversity crisis after failing to encourage Muslim recruits to sign up.

The service launched a £90m national recruitment campaign last year specifically aimed at boosting the number of soldiers from the Islamic population in the armed forces.

But only 15 Muslim people from the Midlands region, which has an estimated 200,000-strong Islamic population, have since joined, the Birmingham Post reports.

The campaign, which included activity days and promoted the use of headscarves for female Muslim soldiers, hoped to target 1,200 new recruits by April 2007.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are thought to be the main deterrent for Muslim recruits. There are only an estimated 330 Muslims in the entire armed forces.