Labour's candidate for London mayor has strongly backed the decision to take out the notorious Islamic State militant "Jihadi John" in a thinly veiled swipe at party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Sadiq Khan said he believed the country was safer as the result of the US drone strike - in a joint operation with the UK - which killed Mohammed Emwazi in Syria earlier this month.

Speaking to political journalists at Westminster, he also voiced his strong support for armed police officers who had to take "split second decisions" on when to open fire, saying: "I live in the real world".

His comments were in sharp contrast to Mr Corbyn who has questioned the legality of the drone strike on Emwazi and suggested he was "not happy" with the idea of a "shoot-to-kill" policy in the event of an armed terrorist attack.

"There is nothing I disagree with in relation to how Emwazi was taken out. I think we are safer as a consequence of him being taken out," Mr Khan said.

"I live in the real world. In the real world police officers who are part of the armed response team make split second decisions. In the real world decisions in relation to people like Emwazi need to be taken methodically - as they have been."

Mr Khan, a former human rights lawyer, added: "One of the most import roles of the mayor of London is to keep Londoners safe. The most important role for the prime minister of this country is to keep the British public safe."

His comments underlined the concerns among many Labour MPs about Mr Corbyn's national security credentials in the wake of his response to the Paris terror attacks.

Mr Khan also emphasised the "special role" which British Muslims had to play in tackling extremism - not because they were "more responsible than others" - but because they were more effective than anyone else.

He said there was a need to break down the "social segregation" which meant that too many Muslims grew up without ever really knowing anyone from a different background.

Mr Khan, who is himself Muslim, drew on his own experiences describing how people he had known as a boy had gone on to hold extremist views and, on occasion, act on them in "terrible ways".

"Extremism isn't a theoretical risk. Most British Muslims have come across someone with extremist views at some point - and so have I. It's affected my personal life, my friendships, and my career," he said.

"I've lost count of the number of times I've had to challenge the hideous views of seemingly intelligent and articulate people.

"People who look and sound like normal Londoners, until they say that 9/11 was a Mossad conspiracy. That the Jewish workers in the twin towers were tipped off and escaped."