MUSLIM leaders across Scotland have held talks with police, who are stepping up patrols around mosques amid fears of reprisals following the hacking to death of a soldier on the streets of London.

The move came as Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was named as the victim of Wednesday's suspected terrorist attack.

Two men had set about the father of a two-year-old boy with a machete and knife after targeting him outside his barracks at Woolwich. One claimed on video later the killing was carried out in the name of Allah and as retribution for British personnel being based in Afghanistan.

The family of Drummer Rigby, from Manchester, described him as a loving son, husband, father, brother and uncle, adding that "he always wanted to be in the Army, live life and enjoy himself".

The attack led to heightened fears that mosques and Middle Eastern shops north of the Border could be targeted by extremists seeking revenge.

Alex Salmond expressed his condolences to Drummer Rigby's family and during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood said the attack would not divide communities.

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: "This is not the actions of Britain's Muslim community. They feel as wounded by this attack as anyone else."

Two men, aged 43 and 45, were charged after separate attacks on mosques in Gillingham and Essex. Members of the far-right English Defence League took to the streets of Woolwich hours after the killing.

Police Scotland ordered extra officers to patrol mosques to deter any potential violence and reassure the public.

The Muslim community condemned the killing and branded the views expressed by one of the alleged attackers "abhorrent and totally alien to Islam".

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Scotland said: "These two people who killed this poor soldier didn't represent Islam, didn't represent the Muslim faith and didn't represent our communities. Therefore we reject those individuals outright." He said the group would remain vigilant to the danger of revenge attacks and said the issue had dominated discussions with the police.

The spokesman added: "There's no doubt about it. There is a whole group of right-wing organisations out there who will feed into this and try and exploit it to their own benefit."

Dr Muhammad Kausar, president of the Glasgow Central Mosque – the largest in Scotland – said he contacted police over fears his mosque and businesses could be targeted.

It followed isolated incidents against Muslims after the 2007 Glasgow Airport terrorist attack, when two men drove a Jeep laden with fuel cannisters that caught fire in the main terminal.

He said: "We have to prepare for the worst. We don't know, there could be somebody breaking windows, somebody throwing some petrol bombs ... We can't read their minds, we just have to protect [ourselves] from anything that we can."

Fraser Rae, 28, is serving a two-year prison sentence after he threatened to blow up the mosque and shoot worshippers in September 2012.

Dr Kausar said of the London attack: "We disassociate ourselves with those hooligans. We believe they are not Muslims and they are not serving any cause of Islam."

After news of the killing, messages were posted on a Scottish Defence League website calling for those responsible to be "sorted out" and asking if people were going to march in Glasgow.

Politicians called for calm and sought to disassociate Islam from the attack. Prime Minister David Cameron said "there is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act" while Mr Salmond urged communities to stick together.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it was a "senseless murder". Chief Superintendent Grant Manders from Police Scotland's Safer Communities branch said extra high visibility patrols were protecting mosques.

"Police Scotland has close contacts with our Muslim and indeed all our black and minority ethnic communities right across the country. Following the recent events in Woolwich we have made contact with them to reassure them that there is no Scottish link to that incident," he said. "We are acutely aware that some extremist groups or misguided individuals may use this horrendous attack as an excuse to commit hate crime. This will not be tolerated and we will proactively monitor the situation in Scotland, including social media sites, to make sure that any suggestion of this is acted upon immediately."

Meanwhile, youngsters attending Combined Cadet Force (CCF) units in Scotland's schools were advised not to wear forces uniforms.

Ben Riley-Smith