THE nation needs to unite to protect children from being groomed online by extremists, it has been claimed.

Local community leaders and politicians spoke out after several young Islamic Brits headed out to the Middle East to join IS, while other youngsters were banned from leaving Britain.

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It came as home secretary Theresa May said: “One of the messages that I want to give to parents is that if you are concerned they might be being radicalised or if they might be thinking of going to Syria to join terrorist groups please say something.”

Mrs May’s comments came on the same day that five teenage girls said to have shown an interest in going to Syria were barred by a High Court judge from travelling abroad.

Community cohesion and extremism expert Faz Patel, from Shear Brow, accused Mrs May of shifting the blame for failing to tackle IS’ efforts onto parents, and said the government should work together with internet providers to stop the spread of the organisation’s propaganda.

He said: “We have under-18s looking at these glossy, slick videos online and that’s their first point of contact with this cult.

“What Theresa May has done is shift the blame, but we all need to work together.

“Laying the blame on parents is not helping, it’s everybody’s responsibility.”

Haslingden and Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said: “I think Theresa May is speaking to people who are already well aware that protecting children is important.

“I’m not sure her message will reach those people because some parents are oblivious in cases like this of how deep their children are getting involved.”