November 5, 2001	Monday	haba’an 18, 1422

LONDON, Nov 4: Four in 10 British Muslims believe Osama bin Laden is justified in mounting a war against the United States while 96 percent think that air strikes against Afghanistan should stop, the Sunday Times reported.

A poll for the newspaper found that 11 percent thought there was some justification for his methods.

Britain has a Muslim community numbering about two million. Forty percent of those surveyed thought that British Muslims who went to fight with the Taliban were right to do so.

And nearly three-quarters — 73 percent — said Prime Minister Tony Blair was wrong to back the Americans in their air offensive.

Asked whether it was more important to be British or Muslim, 68 percent chose their faith.

The figures are likely to concern ministers, who have repeatedly insisted that the US and its allies were not waging war on Islam, amid fears of growing racial and religious tensions in Britain.

The Sunday Times interviewed 1,170 people at random in cities across Britain in what it said was the first large-scale poll of Britain’s Muslim community since the start of the bombing of Afghanistan on October 7.—AFP