Terrorism enemy of all religions: NU Leader

Leader of Indonesia`s largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, said terrorism was an enemy of all religions.

"There are always people who discredit a certain religion each time there is a terrorist act. But this must be corrected," Muzadi said after attending a joint prayer service conducted by interfaith leaders here on Monday.

At the function which was also attended by Prabowo Subianto, chairman of the Greater Indonesian Movement (Gerindra), Muzadi said religious teachings had been misunderstood and abused.

"Misunderstanding of religion tends to lead to fanaticism while abuse of religion tends to include non-religious elements in it," he aid.

Therefore, terrorist acts in whatever form were enemies of all religions, Muzadi said. "So, one should not continue to use terrorist acts as a reason to discredit religion, particularly Islam. This is wrong," the NU chairman said.

The interfaith leaders after holding the joint prayer service visited the site of the bomb attack on the JW Marriott hotel.

On Friday morning, two bomb attacks were launched on JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels, killing nine people and injuring 53 others.

Of the 53 injured victims, 16 were foreigners and 37 Indonesian citizens. Among the 16 injured foreigners, six came from the United States, two from the Netherlands, two from Canada, two from South Korea, one respectively from India, New Zealand and Norway.

Police have identified three dead victims of last Friday`s hotel bombings as being of Australian nationality.

"The names of the three Australians are Senger Craig Andrew, McEvoy Garth Rupert John and Verity Nathan John," deputy head of the National Police Headquarters` public relations division, Brigadier General Sulistio Ishak, said on Monday.

The three Australian fatalities brought the number of foreigners killed in the bombings to four. The first known foreign fatality was Timothy David Mackay, a New Zealander. (Jakarta, ANTARA News)