PM condemns suicide bombings

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 | Source: AFP

MALAYSIA: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has denounced Palestinian suicide bombings, saying in remarks published on Sunday that the practice was unacceptable to Islam.

Mahathir, a strong supporter of the Palestinians, acknowledged that they resorted to suicide bombing because they did not have proper weapons in their fight for an independent homeland.

He was commenting on remarks by Abdul Hadi Awang, leader of the opposition Parti Islam seMalaysia (PAS) who said on Friday that Islam permitted suicide bombing in the fight against oppression.

Abdul Hadi said his party supported the Palestinian militant group Hamas because innocent people were being killed, and suicide bombings were acts of martyrdom. But he said suicide bombings in Indonesia's Bali island last year, which killed more than 200 people, could not be considered as martyrdom. --AFP

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