A terrorist who ran a Taliban recruitment operation from an Islamic book stall in Longsight has died while serving four life sentences.

Munir Farooqi died last month at HMP Frankland in County Durham.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has launched an investigation into his death.

Farooqi joined the Taliban following the September 11 attacks. He was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and later released by Pakistani authorities.

After returning to Manchester, he used his family home to produce extremist propaganda and operated a recruitment campaign through the book stall.

His targets included undercover police officers — an attempt that helped expose his activities.

In 2011, Farooqi was convicted of preparing acts of terrorism, three counts of soliciting murder and disseminating terrorist publications.

The judge described him as a “dangerous extremist” and imposed four life sentences with a minimum term of nine years.

Farooqi challenged his convictions, but his appeal was dismissed in 2013.