PM condemns suicide bombings

PM condemns suicide bombings

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