Australian Muslims fear backlash

The country's main Muslim organisation, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, was sending a letter to about 200 clerics and community leaders urging them to condemn bombings, fearing a backlash following attacks in London and Egypt.

The letters urge clerics to help fight extremism, according to federation chief executive officer Amjad Mehboob.

"We want the Muslim leadership to be united in their thinking and to acknowledge that there is a problem in our midst and then to do something about it," Mehboob told ABC radio.

Preachers will be urged to "also tell the youth that Islam is against violence and terrorism," federation president Ameer Ali said.

Mehboob said his organisation was prompted to draft the letters after talk-back radio callers mounted a "free-for-all" attack against Muslims over the airwaves on Monday.

"It was a pretty bad day from our perspective," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "There was talk about getting all the Muslims packing from this country and closing down mosques."

The move also follows comments Prime Minister John Howard made while on a visit to London, in which he attacked Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran for claiming that the United States orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks and describing Osama bin Laden as a "good man."

"It's an example of somebody who's saying something utterly unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of Australians including the overwhelming majority of Islamic Australians," Howard told the ABC.

Sheikh Omran has since said he did not endorse the attacks against the United States, but merely supported the work bin Laden did before 2001 in helping Afghans recover from years of war.

Howard, who was Tuesday heading home from trips to the United States, Britain and Iraq where his country has troops, has urged Muslim leaders to make it their "absolute responsibility" not to sow the seeds for militant attacks.